Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches
by Mutitoon90
Summary: Victoria 'Vicki' Payne is a witch, who is trying to rescue her beloved from two wicked witches from the Land of Oz. With the help of Dorothy Gale and Alice Kingsleigh, Vicki must find a way to save Tech and stop the witches' plot to cloak the Land of Oz in everlasting darkness. (This is a requested story.)
1. Chapter 1

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter One

In a dorm room that is in Liberty University, a young woman of African descent was on her personal laptop, communicating via video chat and enjoying talking to the guy on the other side of the video chat. However, most people don't talk to an anthropotic coyote that is also a superhero.

"Tech," the woman asked the apparently green canine, "you look like you've just got off a bad day at work."

"Well, that's what happens when you're a superhero to an entire universe." The coyote that was known as Tech replied, "Besides that, I was blown up several times today as well."

"Tech, you should be more careful!" The woman partly scolded the coyote, before remembering something important and asked, "Or was it Duck that helped in your 'explosions?'"

"Duck isn't guilty of most of them." Tech shook his head, "Besides, Duck was busy with the Royal Tweetums, so he's been getting hurt himself."

The young woman giggled a little before stating, "It's a good thing that you've got the power of self-healing, or else, you'd be in big trouble."

"No agruements from me." Tech replied with a smile, "So, I recall you saying that you have finals for this week, right?"

"Well, I've just finished them today." The woman sighed in relief, before stating to her friend, "All I have to do is wait for the results."

"Waiting for the results is ALWAYS the worst part of the exams." Tech sighed out, knowing that fact very well.

"Back in your college days?" The girl asked with a empathic smile, telling that he missed some of the things that he did back when he was a normal coyote on Acmetropolis.

"Actually," Tech corrected the human female, "I was a student of Acme Institute before the meteor hit Acmetropolis."

"You still had to do exams there too?" The girl asked, causing Tech to chuckle as he spoke in response.

"You're right about that, Princess."

The girl blushed upon hearing Tech calling her "Princess," which was something that she was still getting used to hearing, even though the coyote had been calling her that for a couple of months by that time.

"Hey," Tech pulled the girl back to the conversation, "what's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing!"

"Vicki..." Tech nearly growled, and that caused the girl to talk back to the canine.

"It's nothing important! What's the big deal about it?"

"Well, it's..." Tech started off sounding angry, but his voice was weakened by a short series of knocks before the door to Vicki's dorm room opening, allowning a dark being to enter the room.

Standing at nearly five feet, a darkly-clothed girl entered the room in a stride that was looked like a mild rush. The girl's hair looked like a butcher had lopped at the hair with no skill or care for the results. On her neck, there was a small scar that most people would generally ignore.

"Lisbeth!" Vicki turned to the figure, and then Vicki remembered something important.

"Shoot! I forgot that you were coming over!"

"Don't worry about it." Lisbeth stated with a mild Swedish accent and a deadpan voice, "I'm here for the notes for the exams I've missed."

"Oh, yeah! THAT!" Vicki got to her feet and started to get the notes from her blue and black backpack, unintentionally leaving Tech to speak with Lisbeth, who was the first to speak.

"So, you're Tech? You're not want I've expected."

"And you're Lisbeth Salander?" Tech replied with an angry look on his masked face, "From what I've heard about you, you're my prime suspect of the author of an e-mail that I've received a few weeks ago."

"What proof do you have?" Lisbeth gave a small yet sharp smile at the coyote, who was not about to drop the subject at that point.

"I know that I have mostly circumstantial evidence, espeically since I was told that you're a hacker and that one of your former guardians was not a... How do I say this? Not the most likable guy. Also, I was informed about you getting back at him. From that details of that, I can honestly believe that you've managed to hack your way through the Witches' World Web and hacked your way into my e-mail account before sending the explicitly detailed note of how you were going to harm me, should I ever lay a finger on Vicki in any harmful manner."

Lisbeth was looking shocked about Tech's explaination before her face gave a slightly bigger smile as she spoke in response to the statement.

"You're right; I'd thought that since you and Vicki haven't met in person yet, I thought it'll be fair to give you a fair warning about what WILL happen to you, if you hurt Vicki."

"Well," Tech managed to speak after hearing the cold fury in Lisbeth's voice, when she was talking the possibility of him harming Vicki, "at least, you can say that you're a good friend."

"Lisbeth!" Vicki called out, ending the conversation between the genius coyote and the computer hacker, "Stop scaring Tech!"

"Sorry, Vi." The computer hacker shrugged her shoulders at the darker skinned female, "I don't like it when people mess with my friends, and you are one of those people that know that better than most people."

"I know that, but stop it already!" The blue-claded girl nearly scolded the Swedish girl, and then Vicki gave Lisbeth the notes, saying, "Here's the notes for your make-up exams."

"Thanks, Vi." Lisbeth smiled honestly as she spoke, "I really owe you and Mary for this!"

"We're friends; that's want they do." Vicki smiled before becoming a more serious, "But if you want to make it up to me, then stop threating Tech."

"All right." Lisbeth laughed a little, before promising, "I'll leave him alone, but if he hurts you-"

Vicki interrupted by saying, "You'll be the first one I call in that case."

"Good to hear." Lisbeth stated before turning to the coyote on the computer screen and said to him in a strong tone of voice, "If you hurt her, you'll be lucky, if you're dead after I get through with you."

"Thanks for the warning." Tech chuckled nervously as he watched the small female take the notes and exit the dorm room.

"Enjoy your talk." Lisbeth waved at Vicki and Tech before giving a cheeky wink at them before closing the door behind her.

Mildly red-faced from the smaller female's statement, Vicki looked back at the computer screen and saw the red blush on the coyote's currently green fur. She knew that Tech had a crush on her, but she was not sure about his feelings towards her until last Christmas, when she sent him a lab coat that she had designed for him and he gave her a Blue Star necklace. Recalling the memory caused Vicki to touch the Blue Star jewel, which was glowing, and the silver necklace that was around her neck.

Tech noticed Vicki looking at him, and he recomposure and coughed into his fist before asking, "So, where's Mary?"

"She's at the Animal Shelter, helping her cousin, Colin." Vicki replied to Tech, who took a moment to think before asking, "The same cousin that was convinced that he was an invalid until Mary helped out of his own bedroom?"

"The very same one." Vicki nodded, while slightly regretting telling Tech that story about her roommate's childhood.

"Well, I'm glad that he's able to walk on his own." Tech smiled, causing Vicki smiled since she thought the same thing about the ending of the story of Mary's secret garden.

Then, Vicki heard a sound from Tech's end of the video chat, and it sounded like an alarm, which would not surprise her at all, since he was a hero with duties.

"Another alarm?" Vicki moaned, and Tech replied, "I'm afraid so, Princess. I'm going to have to cut our chat short."

"That's not fair!" Vicki pouted, "Can't those bad guys ever a day off?"

"Now, you're starting to sound like Duck." Tech chuckled, earning a glare from Vicki before saying, "But I do agree with you."

Vicki smiled at Tech before she asked the coyote, "Where can I call you back? You know I don't like to wait."

"Then, waiting for the results of your finals will be not a pleasant time." Tech laughed a little before answering the question, "I'll call you; I don't know when this one will pass."

"I get it." Vicki's face fell into an expression of sadness, and Tech stated, "I promise that I'll call you as soon as I can, Princess."

"I trust you, Tech; you've always kept your promises to me." Vicki smiled weakly.

"Besides, you could use some time to rest from the cramming for the finals too." Tech tried to be helpful, but Vicki did not argee with the idea.

"I wanted to do that with you, Tech."

"I'm sorry, Princess." Tech's face twisted with regret, "Duty calls to anyone that is willing to answer it."

Vicki sighed and stated with a heavy exhale, "Good bye, Tech."

"Farewell," Tech stepped back and bowed to the screen that had Vicki's face on it, "my Sapphire Princess."

"Flirt." Vicki's smile became wider and more sincere, and that caused Tech, who returned to his original spot in front of the screen, to say with a wink, "That's my girl."

"Thanks, Tech." Vicki laughed before becoming serious, "Just, please, be careful out there."

"I'll try." Tech sighed heavily, unsure about what was about to happen, "I'm just glad that I have that healing factor."

"Bye, Tech."

"Bye, Princess."

A moment passed in silence, and Vicki asked, "You're not signing off."

"Neither are you."

Another moment passed again in silence, and that was starting to get on Vicki's nerves.

"Tech!"

Then, a voice rang out on Tech's end, and that caused the coyote to panic as he said rapidly, "Love ya, Princess! Bye!"

Seeing Tech disconnect the video chat line caused Vicki to giggle a little before she turned off and closed her laptop and made her way to her canopy bed.

"That Tech." Vicki flopped onto the bed with a smile on her face; she always felt better whenever she talked to Tech. Then, she recalled the day that they had met via the Internet.

It happened after coming to Liberty College and getting settled in, and Vicki was surfing the Witches World Web to find a bluebird to keep in her dormroom during the school year. Looking for a website that sold bluebirds, Vicki came across a strange website that talked about a planet that was called Blanc. Intrigued by this, the girl clicked on the link to the site, and she found herself on a website from another world that was within the universe, which she was thankful for, and she viewed the site, until she found a chat room on the site.

There, in that chat room, was where she met Tech via cyberspace. It started up as a normal chat between two strangers, and when they learned that they had similarites between each other, the talks became more personally over time. The chats between Vicki and Tech changed from talking with words on messages to video, which was a surprise to them due to the fact that they were expecting something different. However, they recovered quickly and continued to speak to each other over the months.

Then, a problem occured to Vicki that caused her to worry: the Witches' Council.

The Council was responsible for making sure that witches and wizards were not misusing and abusing their powers, which was a difficult job in the first place, however not everyone on the Council was so willing to agree with choosing young witches and wizards to go after the rouges of the magical realms of the entire universe. The laws were strict when it came to dealing with mortals, espeically when it came to the issue of marrige and when it came to long-distance friendships.

So, Vicki decided to take a chance and tried to enter the Council's realm to plead her case to them. However, her mentor stopped her and told her that the Council had already dealt with her case and told her that due to Tech being a superhero with his own powers, the Council had choosen to allow the friendship to continue. Vicki's mentor also added that should they happen to become romantic with each other, the Council was going to allow her to keep her powers. Vicki was relieved and happy to hear that kind of news.

With the crisis averted, Vicki's and Tech's relationship grew over the months up to that point. At that point, everyone at the Witches' Council, some of her cousins and even her roommate, Mary, knew that she was in a long-distance relationship with someone on another realm of their universe. However, Tech still have not told his teammates about Vicki, since he was a little shy about telling such personal things and a little busy fighting evil on Blanc and his native homeworld, Acmetropolis.

Right at that point, Vicki felt her eyes becoming heavier from exhaustion. That caused Vicki to become annoyed with Tech; not because she thought it was his fault, but it was about the fact that he was right about her needing rest from the stress-inducing events of the final exams before the summer break.

"It's just like Tech to say something I don't like and to be right about it too." The young woman muttered as sleep started to overtake her. Then, she added before falling into a deep slumber, "Wait 'til Mary hears about this..."

* * *

At the Loonatics' base on Planet Blanc, Tech was talking to the person that had entered the room, when he was talking to Vicki.

"Lexi, what are you doing here?"

Lexi, a rabbit in a pink and black outfit that was similar to Tech's green and black one, answered the question, "Rev's wondering about the alarm, and I'd thought I'd ask you."

"I don't know anything yet, Lexi." The coyote replied while trying to hide the fact about him being in a real relationship; it was not the fact that Vicki was a witch that Tech was concerned about, but the fact that she lives in another dimension was the true cause for concern about his teammates' reactions.

"Okay." Lexi accetped the answer, although she knew that something was up with the genius coyote, espeically since he had been going to lab after nearly every mission for the passed few months.

The she-rabbit watched the coyote working hard at the investigation of the alarm, but it did not stop her from being worry about her teammate. He had been working hard on the missions and the building of his many inventions, but Tech, from Lexi's point of view, was being secretive, which was causing some concern among the Loonatics.

"So, you hungry, Tech?" Lexi tried to strike a conversation with Tech, who replied without looking at her, "No thanks. I've already ate."

The female wanted to dig in deeper, but she had a feeling that if she tried to get at him a little harder with her inquiries, Tech might withdraw even more from her and the rest of the team, and that was something that she did not want to do.

"Well..." Lexi headed to the door, when Tech asked an unusual question.

"Hey, Lexi... Have you heard anything from the lab or me today?"

It was an unusual question, even when the receipient of the question did not possess the power of super-sensitive hearing. Lexi, however, did have that power, and she was willing to answer that in a manner that relieved Tech's worries.

"I did, Tech, but I'm not a blubbermouth, like Duck."

No longer worried about Lexi, Tech sighed out and smiled, saying to the pink rabbit, "Thanks, Lexi."

"Not a problem." Lexi winked at the coyote, "I'm sure you and your 'Princess' don't want too much of an headache from Rev or Duck."

"WHAT!?" Tech exclaimed in shock before quickly remembering her ultra-sensitive hearing and muttered to himself, "How can I forget that quickly?"

"Don't worry." Lexi was quick to ease Tech's concerns, "At least, one thing's for sure: it's not Duck that knows about you and your girlfriend."

Hearing that caused Tech to smile and said to the rabbit, "Thanks, Lexi. I owe ya one."

"Hey, consider it a promise from an understanding friend." Lexi was glad that the coyote was smiling at something that was not one of his many inventions, "Besides, it's no contest of who you'd either have know secert."

"No kidding!" The green and black genius agreed; in fact, he had enemies that could keep his personal secrets better than the orange-claded duck, who has a personal vendetta with him.

Then, Lexi's face changed from pleased to concerned as her long ears picked up the noises of someone trying to sneak into Tech's labotory, and she knew who it was. However, Tech noticed the sudden change of facial expression on the lady-rabbit and went to his computer to see who was trying to sneak into the lab.

"Duck..." Tech growled upon seeing the mallard via computer screen, and he knew that Duck was also curious about his extented sessions in his labotory.

"I'll be on Duck Patrol." Lexi sighed, and Tech gratefully said, "Thanks, Lexi. That's another one that I owe you."

"Don't worrying about owing me anything." Lexi started to leave the lab, and once she reached the door, she remembered something else and asked, "Hey, Tech, Ace wants know about that alarm earlier."

"I'll get the information as soon as my computer mades a diagnosis." Tech replied as he turned to the she-rabbit, who said, "Thanks, Tech."

As Lexi exited the lab, Tech sighed out of relief, grateful that the she-rabbit was a good friend to him, and then a thought formed in his mind, causing him to say aloud, "Boy, I hope Vicki's not the jealous type; that'll cause a few problems in our relationship."

The coyote, still chuckling to himself, returned to his work with the computer, and that lasted for a few moments, when he felt a breeze tickle his body, making his fur stand on his body.

Turning from his computer, Tech looked around for the source of the cold breeze, and when he found nothing, the coyote shrugged his shoulders and returned to his work.

Then, a second breeze came at him, but it was stronger and colder than the last one, and once again, Tech looked around to see who was making the eerie breezes.

"This is getting annoying..." Tech started to growl, which was a reflection of his anger, "Slam, if you're practicing some new technique, please do somewhere else and not in my lab!"

Shivering from the coldness of the breezes, the green-claded canine rose from his seat and went to a closet that was designed for keeping the lab coats for the labotory. As he grabbed the coat that was designed by and given to him by Vicki, the breezes whipped up, becaming a flurry.

"SLAM!" Tech yelled at the assumed source of the unexpected flurry, "I THOUGHT I SAID TO CUT IT OUT!"

Then, he heard a shrill crackle of a laugh, telling him a truth that he have chosen to vocalize it in a high voice that he would never speak in, unless he knew he was in deep trouble or was about to experience something extremely painful.

"That's not Slam..."

 _"What took you so long to make that guess, my fine gentleman?"_ The voice of, what Tech assumed of, a hag rang out of the blustery gale as it started to surround the genius.

Feeling himself being dragged into the sprialing winds, Tech tried to keep himself anchored to a spot, however he, soon, realized that he was in a struggle that he could not win. So, he came up with a plan, but he knew that he would pay for it at a later time.

Pulling a pen from the coat's front pocket, Tech started to write something down on the coat's sleeve and managed to complete it before sensing that his strength was fading. Returning the pen to its proper place, Tech tied the arms around the chair and made it tight, so that the strange wind could not untie the coat.

 _"Stubborn beast!"_ Hissed the haggish voice, _"You won't be needing to tell anyone where you're going, espeically since you won't be leaving there for quite some time!"_

Tech gritted his teeth in disdain towards the owner of the voice as his fingers slipped one by one, until by his last four digits, he had lost his strength. Upon losing his strength and losing fingers that could grip, the coyote was pulled into the tornado, and his world went black.

Upon catching the coyote's limp form into its winds, the tornado, actually the controller of the stormy winds, let out a triumphant cackle as the winds started to die down and a sickly green glow started to shine in the room.

From outside the labotory, Lexi and Duck, having heard the whistle of the howling winds from the lab, have been trying to enter the lab with no success. Duck had left, rounding up the rest of the team, and Lexi was trying to pry the doors open, but the doors were shut tightly, preventing anyone from entering the lab.

"Lexi!" The voice of Rev entered the she-rabbit's ears as she noticed a red blur coming at her and stopping a few inches from her.

"Lexi-I've-just-heard-what-was-going-on-from-Duck,-which-I-thought-was-pretty-weird,-since-Duck-was-still-pretty-mad-about-losing-that-bet,-when-Black-Velvet-tried-to-cover-Acmetropolis-in-complete-darkness-"

"Rev!" Lexi yelled at the red roadrunner, "Now's not the best time for talking! Tech could be in real danger!"

"Right!" Rev gave a short answer before thinking of an idea to enter the lab.

Getting close to the door, Rev started to spin in one place in a high speed, at least what Rev called it, and he aimed his body at the door. Upon contact with the door, Rev was met with a powerful shock, which halted his attempt and sent the poor roadrunner flying across the hall.

Seeing what had happened, Lexi went to Rev's side, asking, "You okay?"

"I'll be fine." Rev coughed up, his speech was slowed due to the pain he was feeling at that point, and he looked like he fought a fire-breathing dragon and lost that fight.

At that point, the door to the lab opened suddenly, surprising Lexi, Rev and the arriving Loonatics.

"Lexi!" Ace, a yellow-claded rabbit and the leader of the superhero team, "What happened here!?"

"I don't know!" Lexi answered to the yellow male, "I was trying to keep Duck out of the lab, when I heard this cackling laugh..."

"Hey, don't forget!" Duck interjected into the explaination, "I heard it too!"

"Anyway," Lexi rolled her eyes at Duck's attempt of getting attention, "after Rev tried to open the door, it just opened!"

Without saying a word, Ace ran into the labotory and saw no one in it, only a giant mess.

"It looks like a tornado came through here!" Ace stated upon a quick examination of the usually tidy lab.

"Knowing Tech," stated a partly-concerned Duck, "it wouldn't surprise me if Tech was working on some kind of wind machine."

Slam, a tasmanian devil that was speaking in a gibberish that the Loonatics could understand, pointed out that he was the main source of wind-based power.

"Ah, Slam's got a point here." Ace stated after hearing the purple-claded giant out, "If Tech was gonna do something like that, he'd asked Slam to help him out."

Rev, having recovered from being shocked, ran all over the labotory, a task that he could easily complete in a matter of seconds. By the seventh second into the search, Rev went to Ace and stopped before giving his report.

"It's-the-strangest-thing!-I-can't-find-a hair-nor-hide-of-Tech!-It's-like-he-vanished-into-thin-air!"

"That's strange..." Ace pondered about the situation, and then he noticed something at the computer.

"What's that?" Asked Ace as he advanced towards the lab's computer, and when he found out what it was, the rabbit called out to the group.

"Hey, I found Tech's coat!"

The others went to Ace's side and looked at the lab coat that was had its arms tied to the bolted down chair that sat in front of the labotory's computer.

"It-is!" Exclaimed Rev, before going into a long detail about how Tech was not so careless to leave things like the coat laying around, but the others were busy looking at the coat.

"Do you think that Tech left a clue of what happened to him?" Lexi asked Ace, who answered, "That sounds like something that Tech would do, but there's only one way to find out."

Ace was quick in untying the coat arms, but Danger Duck was quicker to grab the coat out of Ace's hands as the fowl shouted, "Dibs!"

"DUCK!" The group shouted, including Rev, who had realized that he was talking to no one, and the duck asked in a manner that told that anyone that did not know the mallard did Duck 'did not know what he was doing,' "What?"

"You know what, Duck!" Lexi pointed at the object that the male bird had took, "Give that back; it could have a clue of what happened to Tech!"

"No way, sister!" Duck was not about to surrender, nor was he ready to swallow his pride, "That's a stupid plan, so Tech couldn't have thought of it. Besides, Tech still owes me for saving him from Black Velvet!"

"Duck, be reasonable!" Ace spoke out to Duck, "Just because of that bet, which you willing lost for Tech's sake, didn't do well for ya doesn't mean that you have a right to do this, and we do need Tech's coat for finding him!"

"Nope!" Duck refused before running away from the team.

"After him!" Ace commanded, and the remaining Loonatics gave chase to Duck, who teleported out of sight as soon as he exited the lab.

"Great!" Lexi sharply stated, "Duck quacked out!"

"Yeah," Ace felt just as upset, "and with Tech's lab coat too!"

Slam looked at Ace and asked what the team of four was going to do now. The rabbit-leader of the Loonatics was quiet for a moment before he spoke.

"Okay, here's the plan: Lexi, you go to the communication room and try to contact Zadavia; she might have some info that we could need in finding Tech. Slam, Rev, you two are with me in catching Duck."

"Right!" The Loonatics nodded to their leader before breaking into two groups.

Unbeknowest to the team, where Tech was at, it was going to take some time before they could enter the Land of Oz.


	2. Chapter 2

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Two

Vicki awoke with the sunshine shining on her face, and it took her a couple of moments to wake up fully and to pull herself out of bed. The sleep that Vicki had was not the best that she had, and the only time she felt restless in her sleep was whenever she had a feeling that something happened to someone close to her.

"Morning, Sleepy Head." The voice of Vicki's roommate rang into her ears, causing her to remove one friend from her concerns as she turned to the girl.

Mary Lennox was a teenage girl, who was once very unhappy, and with the love and support of her uncle, her cousin and those that worked for Craven family, Mary found the love and the happiness that she was needing for that part of her childhood. At this point, Mary is now in college to become a florist due to the secret garden that once belonged to her aunt helped her and her new family regain their love for life.

"Did Flip get himself into trouble again?" Mary asked, and then she added, "You were out like a blown light bulb when I got in last night."

Vicki knew what Mary was asking about, and she answered with a yawn, "No. Professor Genius didn't come by in the Royal Dirigible of Slumberland last night."

Vicki went to the walk-in closet, which she shared with Mary, and opened the door that led to her side of the closet, revealing a wanted poster of a clown-like man, Flip, and the reward of one quadrillion of Slumberland's currency. Shaking her head, she knew why Mary asked about Flip.

Flip was a resident of Slumberland, who was wanted by the authorities for causing a lot of mischief. Flip was not a bad-natured person; it was that his idea of 'having fun' caused trouble for others. That mischief eventually caused the Nightmare King to be released, leading to the kidnapping of King Morpheus. Thankfully, the king was rescued by Prince Nemo, and Flip was granted a full pardon for helping the prince, mush to the dismay of Professor Genius. While Flip's smoking has been reduced due to a combination of a double Royal Decree by both Prince Nemo and Princess Camille and a celebrational prank with a giant cigar that backfired on him, which caused him to have a sneezing fit, Flip is still having his 'fun' with Flap, a giant blackbird that has had saved the mischief-maker many times over the years.

Vicki's first encounter with the troublemaker did not go very well, since Vicki did not like clowns, because she watched a certain movie that she was not supposed to watch, but over time, she learned that Flip was not scary at all and overlooked his clownish apperance and saw him as a memeber of her family. Although, she had to go to Slumberland once in a while to keep him in line as a peace agreement between the Witches' Council and Slumberland.

Vicki started to change her clothes, and Mary was still wondering why her roommate was oversleeping.

"Did the Council call you to a job?"

"No." Vicki replied, knowing that Mary knew about her being a witch and the existance of the Witches' Council.

"Oh!" Mary exclaimed, startling Vicki a little, "I almost forgot."

"What is it?"

"Did Lisbeth put up the notes last night?"

At that point, Vicki was fully dressed in her favorite outfit: a short-sleeved purple T-shirt that was mostly covered with red roses and white snowflakes, black denim jeans and white tennis shoes. As she was pulling out her light blue leather jacket, she answered, "Yes, she came in while I was chatting with Tech."

"You were chating with Tech?" Mary grinned teasingly at Vicki, whose dark skin was glowing bright with a red blush.

"That's all we doing, espeically since we haven't met in person yet." Vicki defended herself, causing Mary to respond with her hands in front of her.

"I was only joking; no need to put a hex on me!"

"I'd never put a hex on you or anyone else." Vicki dismissed the statement as she went to her dresser.

At the dresser, Vicki went to her jewerly box and pulled out a few items that she wanted to wear for that day.

The first item that Vicki pulled out was a hairpin that was shaped like a flower and the color was blue. The 'Sapphire Blue Flower' was a gift from Mary as a birthday present.

The next item was a pin that was designed with a blue shell; the 'Blue Seashell Pen' was a birthday gift from Lisbeth after she found out about Vicki was a witch.

A brooch was pulled out next, and that was a gift from her aunt, whom Vicki had never met. The giver of the 'Heart Sapphire Brooch' was the former Grand High Witch of the Witches' Council and was known as Miss Evangeline Ernst. However, Miss Ernst managed to give the brooch to Vicki through her assistant, Miss Susan Irvine, with a note stating that she loved her dear niece, before she passed away. The bittersweet event happened before Vicki went to college.

Getting items onto their respective places on her person, Vicki knew that she and Mary were more than ready to go out and celebrate surviving the finals and keeping their minds off of the waiting for the results.

"Ready to go to the River Ridge Mall?" Vicki asked her friend, who hopped off of her own canopy bed and said with great excitement, "You bet I am!"

The two friends went to the door and opened, however they stopped when they saw a blond, young-looking woman in a white outfit with flower patterns, a white shoes and stockings in a postion of the attempt of knocking on the door.

"Miss Irvine!" Vicki was surprised upon seeing her aunt's former assist, because that she was not expecting her.

"Aw, man..." Mary moaned, knowing that Miss Irvine only showed up when Vicki had an assignment from the Witches' Council.

"Please let me in." Miss Irvine spoke in a hush tone that told both girls that it was urgent.

"Sure. Come in." Vicki nodded and opened the door wide enough to let the blond-haired witch in the dorm room.

Once Miss Irvine was in the room, she spoke about the reason why she was paying the visit.

"I'm sorry for intruding, but we have a situation that requires immediate attention!"

"A Chosen One's work is never done." Vicki sighed, since she wanted to relax after taking her finals.

"This time, it's more personal for you." Miss Irvine looked at Vicki, who was confused about her friend had said to her.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked, being just as worried as her roommate and friend, who was able to ask a question.

"What happened, Miss Irvine?"

The older witch hesitanted for a moment before saying the question to Vicki and Mary.

"Someone very dear to you has been kidnapped."

That statement caused Vicki to feel the world that she has known pulled out of beneath her feet. Her stunned state was able to dissolve to allow her anger to give her a voice as she turned to Miss Irvine and started demanding answers.

"Who's been kidnapped?! How did it happened?! Who did it?! Why!?"

"I can't talk about it out here, Miss Payne; you know that." Miss Irvine pointed out, reminding the younger witch that other 'mortals' could hear the explaination, even if Mary was already cleared to receive the information by the Council.

Vicki wanted to know what happened, but she knew that Miss Irvine was right about the others hearing stuff that they were not suppose to know about, so she asked, "The Witches' Council, then?"

"Of course." The nearly white-claded witch nodded.

The three women turned their attention to an antique mirror, which acted as a poral to the Witches' Council. The mirror had been given to Vicki from her mother to help her reach the Council to recieve missions or jobs.

"Let's go!" Vicki announced as she rushed to the mirror.

Mary and Miss Irvine followed the determined witch to the mirror, although they were not as fast as Vicki.

"Calm down, Miss Payne." Miss Irvine spoke to Vicki in a stern manner, "They are still alive, and their captors are not willing to kill him."

"For now!" Vicki pointed out, and Mary stated in a tone that was as stern as Miss Irvine's, "They will be fine, but you can't help them if you're all worked up about this!"

With a heavy sigh, Vicki admitted, "Right."

"Then, we'll leave now." Miss Irvine went to the mirror and touched the surface.

Upon being touched by the witch, the mirror's reflecting glass changed from being a complete solid to a near liquid, rippling like the still water of a pond being disturbed.

"Let's go, Vicki." Miss Irvine was the first to enter the mirror, causing more ripples on the surface.

Vicki was about to enter the mirror, but Mary stopped her, saying, "Please, be careful, Vi. You know how Lisbeth cares about you, and I'm gonna be worrying about you too."

"I'll try to come back to you guys." Vicki nodded to Mary, who also added, "And after you rescue the person that got kidnapped, tell him or her that I've said 'Hi.'"

"I'll tell them." Vicki said as she came nearer to the mirror, but she stopped, turned back to Mary and told her, "How did you know that Lisbeth's back?"

"She e-mailed me that she was back last night, when she got out the plane." Mary confessed, which Vicki to ask, "Then why didn't I get an e-mail?"

"I don't know. You could ask her the next time you see her." Mary pointed out to the younger witch, who saw that she could not argue with her friend.

"I'll try to remember that." Vicki nodded before she entered the mirror to meet with the Witches' Council with Miss Irvine.

Left behind, Mary prayed that nothing horrible happened to Vicki and that Vicki was powerful enough stop the people that kidnapped Vicki's dear friend from completing whatever scheme that they were planning.

On the other side of the mirror, Vicki saw Miss Irvine, who was looking very annoyed. Vicki was quick to explain herself to the older witch.

"Sorry about that. Mary wanted to wish me luck."

"Come on!" Miss Irvine motioned the younger woman to follow her, and Vicki made no attempts to disobey her.

The area, which was a room filled with mirror-like portals, echoed with the heavy footfalls made by Miss Irvine and Vicki as they made their way to a door, which was the way to the Council's briefing room. The stone rooms had always reminded Vicki of the corridors at her half-cousin's school, Hogwarts.

In the briefing room, there were a lot of witches and other magical people in the room. Normally, the room only had the main members of the Witches' Council, but if there were a large grouping of magic-users, something very bad has happened. Then, Vicki saw two people that were rarely seen together, and to the young witch, that really meant something really huge had transpired.

One was a witch with long blond hair and wearing a white dress with silver, transparent sleeves and collor and a tiara rested on her head. Kindness and wisdom was reflective in her eyes and features, but there was concern mixed in the youngful face.

The other was a man with long, brown hair and blood-red eyes, and he was wearing a dark-colored kimono and a white hair tie. The dark aura covered itself around him, but that was expected from a powerful half-demon.

The woman was Glinda, and the male was Naraku. The both of them are Vicki's mentors, although Naraku was Vicki's first mentor and Glinda was Vicki's current mentor.

"What are you two doing here?!" Vicki was surprised at their behavior and how close they were to each other, "Normally, you two would be forced to stay at opposite sides of the room to keep you two from each other's thoarts!"

The two mentors looked at each other, shot a dark look at each other and returned their attentions back to their pupil.

"Something terrible has occurred in the Land of Oz." Glinda was the first to talk, but Naraku bluntly added, "Glinda's homeland."

"Please, don't fight now." Miss Irvine pleaded with the two magic-users, who heeded the former assistant of Miss Ernst and continued to explain the situation.

"Do you remember the story of Mombi from my home?" Glinda asked Vicki, who took a few moments to recall the story and answered the question.

"I think so. Wasn't she that witch that liked taking girls' heads and making them her own fashion statements?"

"That's correct." Naraku confirmed, earning a dirty look from Glinda, who resumed speaking to Vicki.

"Yes, she was imprisoned for her crimes against the Land of Oz and the princess herself."

Vicki remembered that Mombi was working with the Gnome King to take over the Land of Oz. She remained flesh and blood while everyone in the Emerald City was turned stone and allowed the Gnome King to steal all of the emeralds from the city. As for the acting ruler of the time, he was turned into a green ornament and placed into the Gnome King's private collection of knick-knacks. Thankfully, the Gnome King was destoryed, the Emerald City and its denizens were restored to their normal selves and Mombi was imprisoned and made powerless. Oddly to Vicki, Princess Ozma was more forgiving to the witch than the latter was to the former.

"She managed to escaped from her cell in the dungeon, and she found some of the Power Emeralds." Glinda stated with worry in her voice.

"Then, we get them back." Vicki stated, seeing no real problem in the situation.

"It's not that simple." Naraku firmly dismissed the simple answer, "With the Power Emeralds, she was able to regain most of her powers, and she was able to being back one of the most powerful wicked witches of the Land of Oz."

"And that would be?" Vicki did not know who Glinda and Naraku was talking about; after all, Vicki was not from the Land of Oz.

"It's the Wicked Witch of the West." Naraku flatly stated.

"Still no clue about the witch." Vicki admitted her confusion, "The only 'wicked witch' I'm familiar with is the one that possessed my aunt, Azkadellia, when she and DG were younger."

"I know that," Glinda was understanding about Vicki's confusion, "but the OZ and the Land of Oz are two different worlds, and the Wicked Witch of the West and Mombi are trying to do something similar to what the witch that controlled Azkadellia tried to do."

"Oh, no..." Vicki gasped upon hearing that news, but Glinda was able to calm the young witch's worries by saying, "Thankfully, none of the Power Emeralds are capable of holding the moon and sun in place."

"However," Naraku spoke up with a worried look on his face, "they were able to find a way to acculmulate great darkness from the hearts of anyone in the Land of Oz."

"Is that even possible?" Vicki was simpily stunned by the statement.

"Darkness resides within every heart," Glinda sadly stated and confirmed her rival's statement, "no matter how pure they are."

Vicki knew that it was true, but she was hoping that the Land of Oz did not have enough darkness in the denizens' hearts to allow the witches' plan to work, espeically since she did not like the dark.

"However," Naraku stated, bringing some hope to the younger witch, "since there's not enough darkness in the denizens of the Land of Oz to make the darkness powerful enough to last in the whole land."

"That's good to hear." Vicki's relief was evident in her voice, since that meant the witches were unable to do anything yet.

"Sadly, they found a way to spread the darkness using the Power Emeralds." Glinda managed to speak about the sitiuation, since she was about to reach the more difficult part of briefing Vicki about her lastest mission.

"It's about the person that Mombi and the Wicked Witch of the West, right?" Vicki knew the answer, but she wanted it confirmed by either Glinda or Naraku.

"That's correct." Naraku was looking nervous, which he rarely did around Vicki or anyone else.

"Tell me who's been kidnapped, so I can save them and get them home!" Vicki demanded the truth from her mentors, who looked at each other with concern on their faces.

"Who?" Vicki asked again with a calmer tone of voice.

Another moment of an intense silence came and went before Vicki finally got the answer to the question.

"It was Tech E. Coyote." Both Glinda and Naraku answered in unison.

The statement was so shocking enough to Vicki that she nearly fainted. Thankfully for Vicki, Miss Irvine had some smelling salts, which was used to keep Vicki from fainting after Naraku and Glinda managed to catch her, although they did glare at each other for a second or two.

"Are you all right, Miss Payne?" Miss Irvine asked innocently, knowing very little about Vicki's reaction, but Naraku and Glinda was more aware of the younger witch's feelings and quick enough to prevent her from verbally attacking the former assisant of Miss Ernst.

"Tech is Vicki's dear friend." Glinda answered the flower-patterned witch in Vicki's place.

"Yeah," Vicki hissed in a groggy state, "but I going to save Tech! Where's the portal to the Land of Oz?"

Getting to her feet, Vicki was about to march to the portal room to find the portal to the Land of Oz was at, but Glina was the one to stop her by saying, "You can't get to the Land of Oz by using a portal."

"What?" Vicki was shocked by this information before asking, "How do I get there, them?"

"There are a few ways." The male co-mentor of the young witch stated with mild-regret in his voice, "One way is that one was be a native of the Land of Oz and powerful enough to take themselves and others to and from the Land of Oz."

"So, you can take me to Tech?" Vicki's voice was filled with hope upon hearing that the Good Witch could take her to the Land of Oz.

"It's not that easy in this situation." Glinda shook her head, "Right now, they are aware that I'll be getting a Chosen One to put a stop on their plans and have set up a powerful defensive barrier to keep me and any other Good Witches of the Land of Oz from interfering with their scheme."

"It looks like you're the only chance we have to stop them." Naraku stated, not even taking the opprtunity to insult Glinda, which added to the level of concern about the situation.

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Naraku." The native of the Land of Oz stated with a little hopefulness in her voice, "There's two others that will join you in the mission. Well, three if you count Toto."

"Toto?" Vicki asked, not knowing if Toto was a person or a pet of one of the other two.

"Yes, and he's the cutest little dog." Glinda managed to find some good in the bad time, as well as answering Vicki's unvoiced inquiry.

"One of the girls that you'll be with on this mission is one that you've done a mission already." Naraku added to Glinda's statement, "Alice Kingsleigh will be joining you on your mission."

Vicki was shocked about hearing the name of her friend during the revolution of Underland. Alice Kingsleigh was the one chosen by the Vorpal Sword to destory the Jabberwock and free all of Underland from the rule of it's tyrant, Iracebeth of Crims, who was known as the 'Red Queen' and the 'Queen of Hearts' and the sister of Marana of Marmoreal or the 'White Queen.' Vicki had been sent to Underland to guide and protect the girl when the Witches' Council heard a rumor about Iracebeth being influenced by the Jabberwock's magical powers.

"You mean Alice is going to join me in this mission?" An excited Vicki asked Naraku, who gave Glinda a look that said, 'I'd just said that,' and the Witch from the Land of Oz giggled at the man's reaction before answering the answer in his place.

"Yes, but when I took her there, Mombi and the Wicked Witch realized what was going on and placed the barrier."

"You're trying to fool them into believing that you're only sending one person to fight them." Vicki thoughtfully stated, knowing that Glinda was not the kind of witch to make the same foolish move twice.

"That's right." Glinda confirmed the statement before adding, "Thankfully, we have an ally that was more than willing to assist us in this time of need." Then, she turned to Naraku and asked him to get the ally, since she was in the briefing room.

"Right away, Glinda." Naraku nodded before seeking out the ally, leaving the three witches to talk about the mission so more.

"Who's the other girl in this mission?" The youngest witch asked Glinda, who was willing to answer the question.

"Yes, this girl is Dorothy Gale, who was the one the destoryed the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West and the one that saved Ozma, the Emerald City and the Land of Oz from the Gnome King and Mombi."

"Dorothy Gale?" Vicki asked, thinking about her cousin, DG. Glinda did not need to read the young witch's mind to know that what was going on in that girl's brain.

"DG and Dorothy are NOT the same person, Vicki."

"Sorry!" The dark-skinned witch laughed at herself for thinking of such a thing.

"She's been summoned to the Land of Oz all ready by Ozma herself." The native of the Land of Oz explained more about Dorothy, "Please try not to scare her; she's still in shock from hearing about the return of the Wicked Witch of the West."

"So?" Vicki saw no problem about it, and she thought that Dorothy should not be in shock about the witch's return.

"She was a child when she killed the Wicked Sisters." Miss Irvine chimed in, causing Vicki's eyes to grow wide with shock.

Glinda had an answer for Vicki, who asked loudly, "What was a kid doing in the Land of Oz?!"

"Before you lose your temper with me, Vicki, I'd thought she was a witch myself before I did my research and found out she was only a child."

"But how did she get to the Land of Oz?" Vicki asked, and Glinda answered by saying, "I honestly don't know; she told me that she was brought to the Land of Oz by a tornado."

"Really?" The young witch was intrigued by Dorothy Gale and had a lot of questions to ask the savior of the Land of Oz.

Then, Naraku's voice redirected the conversation, reminding the witches about their ally.

"Over here!"

Vicki saw the ally, who was a young-looking girl wearing a pure white dress to match her hair and a jeweled circlet to match her golden eyes.

"The Child-like Empress?" Vicki was surprised to see the ruler of Fantastica in the Witches' Council's briefing room.

"It is good to see you again, Vicki." The forementioned ruler spoke in a pitch that matched her appearance and a tone to match her true age.

"Same here." Vicki gave a little bow to the Empress before adding, "Just wishing it was under better circumstance."

"I know." The young-looking ruler sighed out of concern of the situation and Vicki.

Then, the dark-skinned witch asked the Childlike Empress, "Where's Bastian?"

Bastian Balthazar Bux was a young boy that saved Fantastica by very unusal manner: he gave her a new name.

"He is in his world, helping his father with a few things." The Empress stated, "I believe that this is good, for I would not send Bastian to a truly dangerous mission."

"What about the time he'd fought the Nothing?" Vicki asked, and the Empress answered bluntly yet gracefully, "He was protected by the AURYN and his own humanity. This mission is much different than the ones in Fantastica."

"Right..." Vicki was a little disappointed about not seeing the young boy, but the Childlike Empress was right about the difference of the missions; after all, the young-looking ruler was probably as old as humanity itself.

"I've heard of what has occured in the Land of Oz, and I've also came to help you with getting to that land, Vicki." The Empress of Fantastica confessed as she pulled out an amulet.

"The AURYN?" The young witch was not expecting that the Childlike Empress would simply give her a powerful artifact like the AURYN, which made whomever wore it the repesentive of the young-appearing Empress of Fantastica.

"I cannot, on good faith, send Bastian to the Land of Oz, but you, Vicki, are powerful enough to put a stop to the Wicked Witches' devious plot." The Empress explained herself as she placed the amulet in the young witch's hands.

The AURYN was an amulet decorated with two snakes, one was light-colored and the another was dark-colored, that were intertwined and connected to each other; a symbol of Fantastica's neverending existance.

"But you can't just-!" Vicki tried to talk the Empress out of the idea, but a raised hand at the young witch's direction halted the voiced concerns.

"Vicki, do you know how long it would take the darkness, under the control Mombi and the ressurected witch, to reach another world? Some people do not know when to be content with what they have, and it will not take very long for them to reach other worlds with the unwilling assistance of your beloved."

Vicki was speechless, but she was aware of the truth of the Childlike Empress's words. With a heavy sigh, the witch allowed the AURYN to be worn around her neck. She felt the power of the amulet radiate around her body.

"So, how do I get to the Land of Oz?" Vicki asked Glinda, who was able to answer the question.

"I can provide a spell that'll led you to the Emerald City, but you must be careful; they might be suspious of you, since you may be sent there without me. Thankfully, I've thought ahead and have written a letter that should give them a reason to trust you."

Vicki was given the letter, which was put into her pocket and commented, "I feel like I'm being sent to school with a doctor's note."

"Sorry about that." Glinda giggled a little, but she remembered something and told it to her pupil, "One more thing: the Wicked Witch of the West has gained an immunity to water, so you must find another way to defeat her along with Mombi."

"Thanks for telling me." Vicki nodded to Glinda before asking, "What about the others? I mean, do they know about the Wicked Witch?"

"They are aware of her new immunity to water." The Good Witch confirmed to Vicki.

"Good to know." Vicki sighed out of relief, and then she asked, "That inclues Dorothy too?"

"Of course," Glinda answered with a nod, "I told her that myself."

"That's good." The young witch readied herself for the trip to the Land of Oz.

The Good Witch pulled out her wand and twirled it while aiming it at Vicki. A small bubble appered on the end of the wand, and it grew bigger and bigger with each twirl. Glinda stopped twirling once the bubble was the right size to transport Vicki to the Land of Oz and pulled out the wand from the huge bubble.

"Real cute." Naraku muttered under his breath, earning a nudge from Miss Irvine's elbow.

Vicki stood perfectly still as Glinda blew at the bubble, causing it to roll towards the younger witch. Soon, it engulfed Vicki and started to float into the air, taking Vicki with it.

"Good luck, Miss Payne!" Miss Irvine shouted to the floating female, who was waiting for the next part of the journey.

Then, the Childlike Empress waved her hands, using her power to make the AURYN glow, and then Vicki, and after her the bubble, was glowing with the amulet.

Seeing the Childlike Empress's glowing golden eyes, Vicki reached into her jacket  
and pulled out her sunglasses to put them over her eyes, knowing that she was going to gone in a flash of light.

Upon seeing Vicki putting on the sunglasses, the Childlike Empress used her power and the the AURYN's power to teleport Vicki to the Land of Oz. The young witch noticed that she was being noticed by the many witches, wizards and the many other magic-users that were in briefing room of the Witches' Council. However, the view was short-lived, since the magic of the AURYN became so bright that Vicki had to shield her already-covered eyes with her arms.

Once the light faded, Vicki opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer in the Witches' Council's briefing room. What she saw was a bright green city that was surrounded by a grassy field with a huge field of flowers to the right of the city. The young witch noticed that the bubble was floating towards the city, knowing that she was about to meet her fellow adventurers in this mission.

Meanwhile in the palace of the Royal Family of Oz, a small, black dog was barking at the bubble that held the newcomer, and he attrached the attention of his owner.

"What is it, Toto?" A young woman went to the window that the little black was barking from, and then she noticed the distant object.

The dog's owner went to a small table, grabbed the binoculars and returned to the window. With the binoculars in hand, the girl got a closer look at the bubble. At first, she thought the person in the bubble was Glinda, but she saw that the person was dark-skinned and dressed differently by the dog owner's understanding.

"I hope that's the witch that Glinda was talkin' about before she left." The dog was the recipient of his owner's statement, "If she isn't, I hope she's not an enemy of the royal family and me."

Then, the ground beneath her feet shook, causing her and her dog to became very concerned about the quake.

"What's goin' on with these earthquakes?" The girl asked as she scooped the dog into her arms, If these earthquakes keep up, the Emerald City is goin' to be the Rubble City again!"


	3. Chapter 3

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Three

Once the bubble landed on the ground, it popped, allowing Vicki to move around freely. The yellow brick road that she was on caused Vicki to mentally note about how the natives of the Land of Oz was fortunate enough to have such a brightly colored road that could be easily seen most of the time.

"Halt and don't move." A voice rang out, causing Vicki to face the owner of the voice.

Seeing a group of small people with the weapons and the clothes of guards being led by a man that was completely made of some kind of metal, wearing a heart-shaped clock and wielding an axe was not a normal sight, even for a witch like Vicki with her experiences and all of the people in her life. She also saw that they were up in arms, causing her to guess that Mombi's escape and the revival of the Wicked Witch of the West had a very strong part in the need of the defences.

"Hold on!" Vicki held up her hands to show that she was not here to harm anyone, "Glinda sent me to stop the witches."

"As happy as it makes me gald to hear that," the metal man replied in a sadden voice, "but during times like these, I can't afford to make exceptions until strong evidence suggests it."

"Understood." The witch felt understanding and yet annoyed at the same time as she saw a person running towards her and the guards.

The person was wearing overalls that covered most of their body, a green shirt that had stains and a pair of boots that were caked in what Vicki hoped was mud. However, the thing that surprised Vicki the most was the person was being followed by a cute little dog with black fur and a collar with a green stone dog tag.

"Tin Man," the person's voice managed to reach the metal man's ears, "what's goin' on?"

"Dorothy!" The Tin Man was shocked about the young woman's sudden appearance, "Get back into the palace! You know that Princess Ozma doesn't want you out here, where the Flying Monkeys or the Wheelers could get at you!"

"I know, but I can't just sit around while the rest of Oz is endurin' the Witches' nastiness!" The girl known as Dorothy replied, showing that she wasn't going to back down from the Tin Man.

As the Tin Man and Dorothy argued with each other, the little dog managed to dash passed them and the guards and went straight to Vicki, who noticed this before the guards. When the guards noticed this, they started to panic about the little dog's willingness to approach Vicki.

"Oh, no!" The guards shouted in unision, getting the Tin Man's and Dorothy's attentions.

Vicki was a little surprised at the guards' reaction to the brave dog's dash towards her than of the little dog's actions. Once the dog reached Vicki's feet, he stood on his hind legs and wimpered at the witch, who was more than willing to put up the small creature.

"Aw, you're so cute!" Vicki picked up the dog, who started to lick his current holder's face, earning the surprise and shocked expressions of the Tin Man and guards and Dorothy's giggles.

"Looks like that Toto trusts her." Dorothy managed to speak through her giggling, "After all, a dog would never go near a wicked witch."

The Tin Man looked defeated as he spoke to Dorothy, "This witch will be allowed to enter the Emerald City, but I'm going to make sure that she doesn't cause trouble."

"Understood, Tin Man." Dorothy nodded to the metal man before she made her way to Vicki and spoke to her as she gained the little dog's attention by taking him into her own arms.

"Sorry about Toto, he's always findin' some way to get attention or food."

On the mention of food, Vicki's stomach growled, telling Dorothy that the witch was hungry.

"Looks like he's not the only one that's hungry here." The farmer-like girl giggled before her own stomach mimicked Vicki's, who laughed a little before she introduced herself.

"I'm Victoria Payne, but my friends call me 'Vicki.'"

"I'm Dorothy Gale of Kansas, and I see Toto introduced himself to ya already."

Vicki smiled as she petted the dog, whose tail wagged, and she said, "Well, at least, he thinks I'm a nice witch." Then, she spoke to Toto in a tone that one would speak to a infant, "Ain't that right?"

The little dog replied with a yelp and a jump from Dorothy's arms and into Vicki's.

"Hey!" Dorothy was a little annoyed with the dog's actions, but she managed to push that aside in her mind as she noticed the Tin Man and the guards approaching them.

"Come on, you two." The metal man directed towards the Emerald City, "It's not safe out here."

"He's right." A sincere-sounding Dorothy nodded in agreement with the Tin Man's words, "As long as those two witches are out there, there's barely a place in the Land of Oz that's gonna be safe."

"Right!" Vicki nodded as well, sensing that the witches wanted Dorothy to be harmed.

Without wasting any more time, Vicki, Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man and the guards entered the safety of the Emerald City. Once inside the city's walls, Vicki looked around at the city and saw that it was a beautiful city, give or take some damage on some of the buildings, and she also realized a few things about Dorothy that reminded her of her cousin, DG, at the Outer Zone.

Then, the ground shifted, causing the buildings to shake and the people to panic, and the guards were no exception to the chaos that was happening.

"Oh, no!" The guards ran around the area, not knowing what to do.

"Does this happen often?" Vicki asked, and Dorothy replied to the question as the earthquake subsided, "The earthquakes or the panicking munchkins?"

Before Vicki could give her answer, she heard the unmistakable sound of a child crying. The witch looked around and found the Munchkin child on the ground with tears in their eyes, and that caused her to forget her question and to go to the rescue.

"Hold on, kiddo." Vicki shouted as she focused her powers towards the fallen child.

The child, who had fallen to the ground and had little time to escape the crumbling building, was covered in tiny orbs of light. The lights took the child out of the way of the falling debris and straight to Vicki's arms. The lights vanished as quickly as they came.

"What was that? Dorothy asked as she tightly held Toto in her arms.

"It's called orbing." Vicki answered after allowing the child to leave her arms, "It's a way for some witches get from place to place."

"Wow!" Dorothy was sincerely amazed at Vicki's powers, "It's almost like Glinda's powers."

"Dorothy," The Tin Man spoke to the girls after calming the guards, "we need to be at the palace; Princess Ozma is expecting you, and now she may want to see this girl too."

"Right." The farm girl nodded to the metal man before the group resumed their trek to the palace.

The group reached the palace, where more of the munchkin guards were waiting for them. One of them stepped forward, and he bowed while saying, "Welcome back, Princess Dorothy."

"'Princess?'" Vicki was surprised about hearing about her new friend's title, and Dorothy was quick to explain herself.

"It happened after the death of the Gnome King and the return of all of the emeralds of the Emerald City. Everyone wanted me to be the next ruler of Oz, but I was distressed by that. I made a wish that someone else would take over the role, and thankfully I was wearin' the Ruby Slippers, and my wish brought Princess Ozma out of the mirrors that Mombi had imprisoned her in. Although, I managed to avoid becomin' queen, but Ozma made me into a princess, which I was not happy about."

"You didn't want to be a princess?" Vicki was perplexed about Dorothy's unwillingness to accept the title, "Why?"

"I'm happy with the life I have with my friends and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry." Dorothy stated, but a yelp from the little dog caused Dorothy to said, "And Toto too."

The correction rewarded Dorothy a lick from Toto.

"I, for one, believe that Dorothy would have be a great queen." The Tin Man beamed a confident smile at the farm girl, who replied to that statement.

"Not at the age of seven."

Vicki smiled at the two as she saw the friendship between them; she could tell that they were very close.

"Princess Dorothy," the guard that addressed the farm girl spoke out, "maybe you should return to your chambers and change out of your Kansas clothes."

"All right, I'll be goin' up now." Dorothy smiled as she nodded at the guard, and then she turned to Vicki and gave Toto to her. With a smile, the farm girl spoke to the dog, saying, "Remember, Toto: Behave for Vicki."

Then, the farm girl turned to the Tin Man and told him, "Please take Vicki to the throne room, and please tell Ozma that I'll be there as some as I can."

"Of course, Dorothy." The metallic man nodded to the girl before she went off to her chambers.

"There's one thing for sure," Vicki stated, getting the Tin Man's attention, and the metal man asked, "What's that?"

"You were sure are about Dorothy being a good queen." Vicki smiled as Toto seemingly barked in agreement with her.

"That really makes me feel so good that I might cry." The Tin Man smiled as tears started to fall from his eyes.

"Uh, oh..." The guards became concerned, and one of them shouted out, "The Tin Man's crying again! Get the oil can!"

Almost as the order was given, a munchkin girl ran up to the group with an oil can, and she asked Vicki, "Can you please help us?"

"Sure," Vicki nodded while confused about the situation involving the metal man, "but what's wrong with him; you guys are acting like he's gonna rust."

"That's because he IS gonna rust!" One of the guards stated sharply at the young witch.

The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head before she turned to Vicki and spoke to her with a calmer voice as she gave the witch the oil can.

"It's a normal thing that happens whenever the Tin Woodsman becomes emotional, despite the fact that he no longer has a real heart."

"Wow!" Vicki was surprised upon hearing those words, although it did not stop her from helping the Tin Man, "Glinda's never told me about that, or that tin from the Land of Oz could rust."

"THE Glinda sent you?!" The girl munchkin exclaimed in sincere shock.

"The one and only!" Vicki smiled as she started to oil the Tin Man's mouth.

"Anybody could say that!" One of the munchkin guards huffed at the idea that Glinda would send an outsider to help them and not herself.

"Hey!" The Tin Man regained his ability to talk, "It also can be true."

"But weren't you the one that stated that she was have been a liar when she came to the Emerald City?" Another of the guards asked, and the metal man was able to answer.

"I'd be lying if I'd said otherwise, but in my heart, I know that she can be a good witch."

At that point, Vicki was confused and getting annoyed; Vicki was not one to tolerate liars especially when they were right in front of her, but she calmed herself down enough to see if the Tin Man was really being honest.

"Did the Tin Man rust himself crying again?" A new voice rang out to the area, causing Vicki's attention to be pulled to the direction of the door.

The owner of the voice was a walking, talking scarecrow, and he was rushing towards the group while trying to the straw from falling out of his body.

"'Fraid so, Scarecrow." The Tin Man sheepishly replied as the man-like being approached the group.

"I think that this is the fourth time today that you've rusted yourself, Tin Man." The Scarecrow shook his head at his friend before turning his attention to Vicki, who had finished oiling the Tin Man's joints.

"Sorry, I'm Vicki." The young witch introduced herself to the Scarecrow, who returned the greeting with one of his own.

"I'm Scarecrow, one of the Royal Advisors to Princess Ozma and Princess Dorothy and one of the most brilliant minds of the Land of Oz."

"Nice to meet you." The witch was trying to make friends, when the Tin Man said, "This girl says that Glinda sent her."

"Is that so?" The Scarecrow thoughtfully asked before stating, "We better get to the throne room and quick; Princess Ozma's expecting us to be there."

"Right." The metal man nodded in agreement as soon as he was able to move once again.

"Vicki," the man made of cloth and straw directed his attention to the witch, "let's go."

With a nod, Vicki complied and allowed herself to be led to the throne room with the company of the guards, the munchkin girl, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tech was in a dark place in a castle in the Dark Forest, which was in the western land of the Land of Oz. Upon his arrival to the castle, the coyote was forced to wear a control collar was made to work on a machine that would pull all of the darkness in the hearts of the citizens of the land and casing that darkness over the entire Land of Oz. At first, Tech refused to do such a thing, and his captors used their collar to zap him. The superhero was angered about this and tried to retaliate, only to discover that his powers were restrained. The cackling hags mocked him and used their magic to make him go to work on the machine.

The black and green canine was wondering how he could do to delay the progress of the machine just long enough to allow a rescue team to arrive to stop the witches and their dark scheme. Escaping was not an option, due to the magical shock collar, and his movements were limited to working on the machine and a few basic needs, thanks to the same object.

Feeling nearly-powerless in his situation, Tech knew that had to do something to stall the witches and their plan to darken the world. The question was how and with what.

Then, he heard the door to the dungeon opened, and he saw a winged monkey entered the area, carrying a food tray with nearly-inedible food. Recalling that those monkeys had a bad temper, especially after seeing a fight over a piece of fruit, Tech took a gamble and called out to the monkey after the food was placed at a table near the coyote and the blue-grey creature started to exit the area.

"Thanks for the food, ya smelly dodo."

The winged monkey heard it, but it chose to ignore the comment, since it believed that the coyote was thinking out loud. Seeing that his trick did not work the first time, Tech tried again.

"Seems that you're deaf and dumb too."

That comment caused the monkey to grab a nearby tool and flung it at the coyote, who dodged it.

"And a lousy thrower to boot too." The green and black canine smugly mocked the monkey, who was becoming angrier by each word.

Without a moment of hesitation, the winged monkey grabbed another tool and threw that one at Tech. The coyote blew a raspberry at the creature, who started to howl with fury and continue to pelt the coyote with everything it could get with his paws.

Tech dodged each projectile and made his way to the machine, hoping that one of the items would hit the machine, farther delaying the completion and the plan. He hoped that he could reach it before either, if not both, the witches heard the commotion from that room.

"Come on! Hit me with your best shot!"

The monkey grabbed a wrench and threw it. Tech ducked, and the flying wrench hit the machine. The monkey, realizing what it had done, tried to flee the room in fear when the witches found out what had happened to their machine.

"What's going on down there!?" The voice of one of the witches screeched in the area, startling Tech and terrifying the flying monkey.

The feathered and furred creature scrambled to escape before the owner of the voice entered the room. Sadly for the flying monkey, it did not even make it to the door, which flew open.

The witch that opened the door was cladded in black with a pointy hat, had green skin and expressed her fury about the disturbance in her house. When she saw the damage that was inflicted on the machine, her fury blazed hotter than the flying monkey's and her magic matched her anger.

"YOU FOOL!" She shrieked in fury as she looked at the monkey first, "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE DAMAGED THE MACHINE, OR YOU'LL BE STUFFED WITH SAWDUST!"

The poor creature was in such a panic that it flew to the window, but the green-skinned hag managed to zap the primate on its backside, making it look more like a baboon's hindquarters. The monkey was forced out of the window, busting the shutters on the way out of the room.

"As for YOU!" The witch turned her attention to Tech, who was feeling like he had been found out about his attempts of delaying the plan, and snapped her fingers, making the collar to electrocute the coyote.

"Ugh!" Tech fell to his knees from the pain.

"The next time you decide to cause trouble, remember that I can cause you far more trouble than you can even invent in your mind!" The witch warned Tech, who managed to get back to his feet.

"Fair enough." Tech rubbed his neck as the witch added one more part to her statement.

"Lucky for you, your abilities are the only thing allowing you to stay alive for now. However, once your part is done, you'll be killed off, so no one would be able to use your mind for their own machines."

With that said, the wooden door slammed after the witch left the room, leaving Tech with one verbal thought.

"Yeesh, thanks for the warning."

The green-skinned witch climbed the dark stairs, which were lit with torches, until she reached the main hall. Making her way to another wooden door, the witch reached her conference room, where her ally was waiting for her.

"Mombi, did you managed to get the Power Emeralds from the Emerald City?"

"No." Mombi growled through her teeth as she clutched the Power Emerald that she had as a necklace, "That brat's preventing me from getting the other Emeralds!"

"Which one?" The Wicked Witch of the West was wondering which princess of Oz the other witch was complaining about, but she had a feeling about who her ally was complaining about.

"Princess Ozma." Mombi answered the question while her voice in burning with anger, "How can I get passed her without killing her?"

"Without killing her?" The Wicked Witch was shocked about her ally's words, "What's wrong with killing that brat?"

"The fact that I'm still under the spell that the Gnome King had placed onto me to make sure that would not betray him." Mombi explained her situation to her ally, "If she dies, I die."

The western witch realized that was a problem, if Mombi's life was truly tied to the ruler of the Emerald City. Then, a dark smile formed as an equally dark thought formed in her mind.

"What if she was put to sleep?"

"What do you mean?" Mombi was sincerely curious about the Wicked Witch's plans for the Princess of Oz.

"I'll show you." The Wicked Witch of the West motioned her fellow magic-user to the giant crystal ball that was sitting in the middle of the room.

Mombi obeyed, knowing the green-skinned witch was able to do something about Princess Ozma, who had managed to gain much power over the years. However, she was concerned about the others, including the possible witches and wizards that Glinda has made over the years.

The Wicked Witch of the West went to the crystal ball first and waved her hands around the sphere without touching it as she spoke to it.

"Show me the face of the one that prevents Mombi from taking the rest of the Power Emeralds from the Emerald City."

The orb obeyed the witch and showed the image of a young girl in her teens with light-blond hair and sparkling eyes that matched the sparkling jewels that decorated the silver tiara on her head.

"I've got just the spell for 'her Highness.'" The witch sneered at the teenaged ruler of the Land of Oz, "A special spell for a child of the royal family."

"Of course." Mombi had an evil smile as she watched the fate of Princess Ozma.


	4. Chapter 4

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Four

Back in the palace of the capital of the Land of Oz, Vicki was talking with the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and a few others. One being was a lion, who was acting like he was a coward, another was a very talkative hen named Billina and the third was the ruler of the Land of Oz, Princess Ozma.

Vicki was in awe of the teenaged ruler of the Emerald City and the Land of Oz. The girl's dress was white with green and gold accents, and her manners rivaled those that were taught in the ways of etiquette, espeically the Royal Tutors of Slumberland. In the princess's hand was a golden septer with the letter 'O' and the letter 'Z,' which was inside the first letter, and on her head was a silver tiara with emeralds in it. Ozma was about the same age as Dorothy, but in her eyes hid a glint of wisdom.

"So, Glinda sent you to help us in our time of need." The Royal Ruler of Oz processed the information that Vicki had told her.

"That's correct, your Highness." Vicki felt nervous, despite that the princess was younger than her.

"We do need all of the help that we can get at this time." Princess Ozma was seldom about the situation, "I do hope that you can help us, Miss Payne."

"I want to see if this girl's a real witch." Clucked Billina, who was sitting on a cushion that was next to the throne.

"Billina." The young ruler of the Emerald City mildly scowled the chicken, "That was not needed."

"Givin' the situation, I'd thought it was a good idea." The hen defended herself as she felt the glare of the princess on her being.

"I've seen her rescue a child from some of the falling debris from the last earthquake." The Tin Woodsman pointed out in Vicki's defense, "Also, she did help me when I rusted myself again."

"Don't mean much by me." Chucked the hen with an doubt-fillled voice, "Mombi acted sweet and nice with Dorothy, Tick-Tock and me before she shutted the poor girl into a room to wait for the day that Dorothy was old enough to have her head taken."

Vicki was surprised at the old hen's story, but she also understood why the chicken would be wary of witches that spoke and acted sweetly to her or to anyone that she knew. However, she had to figure a way to convince the hen and the others that she was a good witch and was sent by Glinda.

Then, the doors in the throne room opened and a Munchkin guard entered the room and announced the following statement: "Presenting Princess Dorothy Gale of Kansas and Miss Alice Kingsleigh!"

Dorothy entered the room, dressed in an outfit that suited her station as a member of the Royal Family of the Land of Oz; her green dress suit was accented with white and gold, and the only part of the outfit that was out of place was the Ruby Slippers, which contrasted the outfit in color.

Alice Kingsleigh, a young blond girl, followed the Princess of Oz into the throne room. Her clothes was consisted of a light blue tunic that was seen under the blue overcoat, which could allow an archer to practice their archery, white trousers and dark blue boots. She entered the room and saw her good friend, Vicki.

"Vicki, you're finally here!" The blond woman ran to the darker woman and embraced her in a hug.

"It took longer than I'd thought." Vicki was shrugging her shouders at that moment after Alice released her.

"Given the situation and its servereity, I cannot blame them." The foreigner female thoughtfully stated as the others saw the friendship on display.

"It looks like they know each other." Ozma observed the interaction between the two foreign girls, but Billina still had a few things to say the foreign witch.

"I don't care! I still need proof that she's a good witch!"

"Oh, Billina..." Dorothy shook her head at the chicken's doubt.

"Don't you start, Dorothy!" The hen was quick to remind the girl from Kansas about one of the wicked witches, "Mombi nearly had you as one of her accessories!"

"I remember, Billina. There's no need to repeat it." Dorothy dismissed the chicken's repeating statements and reminders.

Ozma giggled a little upon seeing the two odd friends bicker with each other, and that was enough to cause everyone, including the foreign girls, to see the banter between the two. Everyone that knew both Dorothy and Billina knew that they like that whenever they disagreed with something.

"Princess Ozma!" A voice rang out from behind the throne room, which led to the upper audience area of the room.

The group looked at a man, who was running down the stairs. Vicki recongized the man from a picture that Glinda possessed, and with his good looks and his attire, Oscar 'Oz' Diggs certainly made a statement.

"Mister Diggs!" Dorothy was surprised about seeing the older man again.

"Please, _'Princess,'_ " the man bowed to Dorothy, who heard the man stressing her title, "call me 'Oscar' or 'Oz.'"

"Sorry." Dorothy sighed as she realized her mistake. While she was made into a princess of the land by both the true ruler of the Land of Oz and the people, Oscar/Oz became the ruler before Ozma's return.

Vicki giggled as she watched the man's entrance into the conversation, but mostly that she had finally gotten the name of the man that Glinda has a picture of, and it was a good thing for Vicki since she had been wanting and asking Glinda to tell her that man's name for years.

Then, the man became serious as he looked at Vicki, who was feeling very sufficated by the man's dark glare.

"You're the one that claimed that Glinda sent you, huh?"

"Yes, sir." Vicki, who was normally unintimidated by normal mortals, was shaking, but she guessed that she was dealing with a man that Glinda cares for deeply.

"Where's your proof?" The finely dressed man demanded the young witch, who was not expecting to get interrogated by the newest member of conversion.

"Finally!" Billina clucked out in agreement with the human male.

"I got a letter from her." Vicki remembered the envelope that the Good Witch had given her before coming to the Land of Oz.

"It could be a fake!" The hen warned the former Wizard of Oz.

"True." Oscar agreed, but he took the envelope from the witch.

Being careful, Oscar pulled out a letter opener from his coat pocket and use it to opened it. Once the envelope was cut open, he pulled out the note and a crystal amulet.

"That's from Crystal Land!" The Cowardly Lion exclaimed in surprise as the amulet was examined by Oz himself.

"How do we know that she didn't take it from there, or that it's a fake?" The old hen pointed out to the lion, who muttered about how the lesser creatures were smug when they were correct and the higher creatures were wrong.

"I can prove it." Dorothy stepped towards the dark-skinned witch.

As she approached Oscar, the people-chosen princess pulled a similar looking crystal from underneath her shirt, showing that she had it as a necklace. When the two crystals touched each other, they gave a powerful glow that ended when both Dorothy and Oscar pulled back from each other.

"Very clever, Dorothy." Oz commented on Dorothy, who stated with a smile, "Thank the Scarecrow for the crystal; it was a birthday present from him."

The straw-filled man bowed before Oscar gave the crystal back to Vicki and said, "Thanks."

"I wouldn't thank anyone just yet." Billina chimed at the younger witch, who threw the hen a dirty and distasteful glare.

Dorothy shook her head and stated to everyone in the room, "The only way anyone could get a crystal from Crystal Land is if they're a native of Oz."

Billina wanted to say something else, but she could not find the right words to say to anyone, including Vicki and Dorothy. So, she wisely remained silent about the topic of Vicki and whether or not that she was on their side.

Vicki noticed that Dorothy was covering her mouth, trying not to show that she was amused about the whole thing, and that nearly made Vicki giggle a little with the princess. Thankfully for her, Dorothy was able to hold back her laughter and returned to the matter at hand, but she did it in poor taste.

"So, what does the letter say about this 'wicked witch?'" Dorothy laughed as she tried to make a joke, but her joke failed to amuse anyone; even Toto wimpered at the terrible joke. Realizing her failure at livening up the mood, the farm girl shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess the joke's should've been made at a better time."

"Like never." Billina joked, and that comment did a better job at some laughter from the others.

Dorothy, who did not have any bad feelings about the sharp cluck from the hen, finally returned to the matter at hand, saying to Oscar, "What does the letter say?"

"Finally." Oscar shook his head at the dark-haired princess before reading the possible note from Glinda.

As Oscar read the note out loud, Ozma raised a hand to her head, and that caught Billina's attention.

"What's wrong, your Highness?" The hen's question caused the others to look at the Ruler of the Land of Oz.

"I'm not feeling right." The princess answered, but the others, including the foreign girls, could not stop themselves from being concerned. Dorothy was the first to reach Ozma and said, "I think something's up."

A moment passed before she admitted to everyone in the throne room that the second princess was right.

"I'm afraid that one of the witches have placed a spell on me, and before anyone believes that this was Vicki's doing, allow me to say that she's guiltless of this curse; I've been feeling this before the letter was opened. However, the witches have been trying to steal more of the Power Emeralds for some time, and they are going to be successful, even before this curse takes effect."

As soon as the words left Ozma's lips, another earthquake came, causing everyone to lose their balance. Most of them fell to the floor, while Ozma and Billina remained in their respective places.

"What's go-going on!?" The Cowardly Lion grabbed one of coulmns, shaken by the situation both literially and emotionally.

"It's the witches!" The Scarecrow cried out, "It's the witches!"

"No kiddin'!" Dorothy exclaimed as she grabbed the throne and held on until the quake ended.

"Thank goodness that's over." Alice stated as she and the others got back onto their feet.

"No," Omza spoke in a weary tone, "it's not."

"What do you mean?" Oscar asked, as he went to the princess's side with the Scarecrow.

"The curse that was placed upon me has rendured me very weak." Ozma explained to the group, "Soon, I shall be completely under the curse."

"Are you sure?" The Scarecrow asked the Ruler of the Land of Oz, who was able to answer.

"Yes."

Vicki was the next to speak to the princess, asking in a sincerely concerned voice, "What can we do if you're under the spell?"

Ozma felt the difficulty in the making her next statement, but she managed to form the words.

"The choices that shall be carried out shall be made by Dorothy, who is a princess by both the people's and my declaration."

Vicki looked at the dark-haired Kansas girl, whose face paled when she heard Ozma's words. Apparently, Dorothy was not hoping not to be put into the postion of power.

Then, another Munchkin entered the throne room and panted out his announcement to the people in the room.

"One of the buildings was just ripped out of the ground by a whirlwind and carried it into the air!"

"No!" Oscar exclaimed upon hearing the bd news, "That's probably the one with the Power Emeralds was stored at!"

"It was!" The messager announced to the group.

An powerful silence fell onto the group, but Vicki was the first to recover and said, "We need to get to the witches' hideout and now!"

"No arguements from me!" Alice stepped forward, aiming her attention to Dorothy, who was starting to feel a great pressure being put onto her.

"Dorothy." Ozma's fading strength was evident in her voice, "I know that you're feeling great pressure, but I trust you that you'll make the right decision when the time is right."

"I hope I don't fail you and your trust." Dorothy grabbed the hand of one of her closest and dearest friends.

With a smile, Ozma made a reply, "I know that you will do what is right."

* * *

"Ha!" The Wicked Witch of the West mocked the weakening princess as she saw her spell taking affect, "That brat's got a better chance of starting an unneeded war than running the Land of Oz!"

"Agreed." Mombi played with the necklace that held the very Power Emerald that allowed her to free herself from the dungeon of the Emerald City.

Then, the ground shook, telling all within the castle of the western Wicked Witch that something had arrived. Both the witches were pleased with the arrival of the rest of the Power Emeralds.

"Mombi, you get the Wheelers to gather the Power Emerald, and I'll send the Flying Monkeys to help you with the task." The Wicked Witch of the West started to make her exit from the room, "I'll make sure that coyote knows that his work is now getting started."

Mombi smiled darkly as she followed the green-skinned witch out of the room to gather the Wheelers to complete the given task. The very thought of Princess Ozma under the slumbering curse filled her with such glee that she felt that nothing could stop their dark plan.

* * *

Back in the Emerald City, Ozma had finally succumbed to the curse, and Dorothy and the others had gathered some help to carrying the sleeping princess to her rooms and bed. Once Ozma was in her rooms, Dorothy assembled the others to discuss the current situation, including the stolen building.

"So, what do we do now?" The Scarecrow asked Dorothy, who was at a loss for words.

"Well,-"

Before the princess said a word, another munchkin enter the throne room and made an announcement to the group.

"Your Highness, there's a man that hear to see his cousin."

"His cousin?" Dorothy was confused about the sudden announcement of the strange man's arrival and demand.

Vicki had a powerful feeling who the man was, and she approached the messager.

"What does this guy look like?"

The munchkin was taken aback about the sudden question, but he was able to answer the inquiry.

"He had black hair, he was tall and when he arrived to the Emerald City, he looked like a giant blackbird!"

"A giant blackbird?" The Cowardly Lion was not happy about hearing about such a creature.

"That Howl..." Vicki groaned, knowing who was demanding Dorothy to see the young witch.

"Howl?" Oscar asked upon hearing the name of Vicki's cousin.

Dorothy also heard Vicki say the name of her cousin and turned to the messager and told him, "Allow him in; I believe that we'll have the truth soon enough."

"Yes, ma'am." The munchkin nodded before he exited the throne room.

The Cowardly Lion looked at Vicki and asked, "Do you know the giant blackbird?"

"Howl's not a blackbird." Vicki answered the question, "It's a form that he takes whenever the situation he's in requires it."

"So, what is he?" The giant feline asked, nervous about seeing the huge avian, who was really the young witch's older cousin.

The answer to the Cowardly Lion's question did not come from Vicki herself, but from the young man that entered the throne room.

The man looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties, and he was dressed in white shirt, black pants and black shoes. His messy black hair reached to his shoulders, and his bright blue eyes darted at Vicki.

"Vicki!" The young man sighed in relief as he dashed to her and hugged her, "Thank goodness! You're okay!"

"Of course I am, Howl." Vicki hugged back, "I'm a big girl."

"I know." Howl laughed at his cousin's words, which caused Vicki to became very annoyed with him.

"Who told you that I was on this mission?" The dark-skinned witch demanded from her older cousin, who answered, "Flip took me, since almost every witch, wizard and other magic-users in the known universe knows that Mombi and the Wicked Witch of the West have returned."

"I'm gonna stuff Flip with his own hat." Vicki muttered under her breath, and Howl heard it.

"Don't get angry with Flip; he's just as worried about you just as I am. Besides, these witches are powerful and dangerous, and their plan threatens everyone in the universe."

"And that's why Glinda sent a Chosen One, and that's me!" Vicki pointed out, but Howl was not willing to hear any part of the sentence.

"Forget it! You're not going anywhere near those two monsters!"

"Ugh!" Vicki was angered, if not annoyed, with her cousin, "I'm a full-fledged witch, not a new recruit of the Witches' Counsel!"

"I know that, but the witches here are truly dangerous!" Howl pointed out, and that truly angered Vicki.

"More dangerous than the time we met the Miser Brothers while looking for Santa Claus's magic bag?"

"Yes," Howl replied, "even feeling both the firey and icy burns from those two jerks."

"More dangerous than the time that Anneka, Piney, Little Acorn and I went to rescue Tannenbaum when King Winter locked him up?"

"Yes, but that was your first mission with the Blue Flame."

"More dangerous than rescuing Harrison from an evil spirit of an evil puppet that was craved from the coffin of an evil man?"

"Wow! If you're talking about Slappy, then yes."

"More dangerous than being nanny and bodyguard to Lynn and Kelly Farmer while helping them steal the Moonstone and freeing their Aunt Sophia and their aunt's fiance from their aunt's evil twin, Agatha, with the help of the witch's gravedigger, Mr. N. and Oscar from their home time?"

"Yes! Now enough! As your older cousin, I'm telling you not to face those witches!"

"And as one of the Chosen Ones," Vicki hissed at her cousin, "you can't stop me!"

"Wanna bet?" Howl glared his younger cousin, who realized what he had done.

"You didn't." Vicki gasped before she ran out of the throne room, leaving most of the people in the room confused.

"I had no other choice." Howl shrugged his shoulders when he noticed that the others were looking at him for an answer.

"What exactly did you do?" Dorothy asked the dark-haired wizard, who said in response to her question, "Follow me, and you'll see."

The group did that, wanting to know what Vicki was talking about and what Howl did to make Vicki react in the manner that she did. The most curious of the group was Dorothy, who saw from both sides. On one side, Dorothy could see from Howl's concern about Vicki's safety, but she also saw that Vicki was sent by Glinda, who was the last person to pull a prank during a time of crisis, and the younger witch did have a job to do.

Once outside, the group from the throne room saw a group of glowing orbs roughly landing on the ground, and the orbs turned into Vicki Payne. Dorothy was the first of the group of people to go to the young witch's aid.

"Vicki, are you all right?"

Rubbing her aching head, Vicki looked at the adopted princess of the Land of Oz and said, "I will be as soon as I get out of here!"

"Why do you think that's going to happen?" Howl folded his arms at his cousin, "You're staying put!"

"Says you!" Vicki felt the temptation of putting a spell on her cousin raising up on her, "I've been sent here to stop the Wicked Witches, not to be babysat by you!"

"I don't really care!" Howl refused to allow himself to let Vicki out of the city, "I'll risk the wrath of every member of the Witches' Counsel before I let you get hurt!"

"What about my wrath?" Vicki pointed out, "Besides, Tech's in danger too."

"That's another reason: This Tech you seem to be 'in love' with." Howl expressed a disdainful look upon hearing the name of the coyote.

"Here we on again..." Vicki realized that she had mentioned Tech, and that nearly always caused Howl to rant about how Tech would 'break her heart' and is 'using her for her powers.'

"Have you even met him?" The wizard asked his cousin, who answered in a heated tone of voice, "Yes! I have!"

"Outside of your computer screen?" Howl added, and that caused the darker cousin to become very outraged.

"For your information, Howl, Tech and I like each other, and I've been talking to him for months! We've even exchanged Christmas presents, for Heaven's sake! You don't know anything about him!"

"You did the same thing with Edward." Howl pointed out, and that caused Vicki to growl at her cousin, "Don't bring him up; that mess was back in high school!"

"And the same can be said about your knowledge of him!" Howl did not stop with his ranting against Tech, and Vicki was not backing off herself.

As the two cousins continued to agure with each other, Dorothy and the others were conversed with each other.

"What are going to do about the Witches?" Scraecrow pondered about the more urgent matter.

"I honestly don't know." Oscar stated to the straw-filled man.

"But if Howl's barrier can keep the Witches out, it may be the thing that could give us the time needed to think of a plan to stop them." The Cowardly Lion spoke up, but Billina was the one to shoot down that hope.

"We may not have that time that you're hopin' that plan of yours; those Witches might have already finished with their plan."

The huge feline's head drooped from the hen's harsh statement; he was hoping that a certain princess of Oz was going to stay in the Emerald City, since she was the one that the Witches wanted to harm the most.

Dorothy, the person that the Cowardly Lion was worried about, was silent in thought, hoping that she could think of an idea to stop the Wicked Witches, but she could not think of anything. Then, she heard something from Alice Kingsleigh that gave her an idea.

"With Howl's magic, Vicki has no way to leave this city, unless there was something that could let us out."

The farmgirl-turned-princess formed a plan in her head and went to the Scarecrow and Oscar, who was curious about Dorothy's sudden calling upon them.

"What is it, Dorothy?" The former leaders of the Emerald City asked the chosen Princess of the Land of Oz, who was able to answer their question.

"I got an idea, but I'm gonna need your help, guys." Dorothy motioned the two ex-rulers of the Land of Oz to come closer, and she explained her plan in whispers to the men's ears. Onc she was done, Dorothy asked, "Are you okay with this plan?"

"I don't know." Scarecrow looked wary about the princess's idea, "I'm worried what if Howl finds out."

"That's where you guys come in." The Kansas native stated with a sly grin, "All I need you two to do is to distract him long enough to get Vicki and Alice out of the Emerald City."

"But what about you?" Oscar asked the younger girl, who answered by saying, "I can handle myself; I'm not seven years old anymore, and I've been trainin' in some of the fightin' magic of the Land of Oz. I'll be all right."

The two ex-leaders of Oz were worried about Dorothy, but they knew that Dorothy was taking this course of action for the sake of the Land of Oz. Oscar and the Scarecrow nodded in agreement, hoping that their adopted princess would be careful and safe while she was on that journey.


	5. Chapter 5

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Five

Hours had passed since Vicki's and Howl's arrival to the Emerald City, and night had fallen over the Land of Oz, causing great fear in the hearts of those that live in that land. Vicki and Howl had long since stoppet arguing with each other, and Dorothy had finished her work with the Scarecrow and the Wizard of Oz. All that was left to do was for Dorothy to get Alice and Vicki together, so the three girls would make their escape.

Vicki was in a room by herself when a knock on the door caused an echo throughout her given room.

"Who's there?" Vicki nearly growled, still very outraged by her cousin's refusal of letting her do her job and rescuing Tech from the Wicked Witches.

"It's Dorothy." The answer came in a soft tone, but Vicki could hear it very well.

Vicki went to the door, and she was surprised to see Dorothy and Alice dressed in gear that was fit for a journey. She shook off her shock long enough to went the two enter the chamber.

"Come in."

"Thanks." Dorothy smiled sweetly and slyfully as she followed Alice into the room.

Once Vicki closed the door, she asked the two girls, "What's going on?"

"We leaving the Emerald City to face the Witches." Alice answered the question, and Vicki, who was doubtful about their chances of escape, said, "There's no way that Howl's barrier is going to let us out; you saw that earlier today."

"I know," Dorothy stated politely, "but I've got the one item in all of the Land of Oz that'll let us out, whether Howl likes it or not."

"What are you talking about?" Vicki wanted answers as she started to feel greatly annoyed with the adopted Princess, who started to explain herself to the dark-skinned girl.

"Remember how I managed to free Ozma from Mombi's enchantment?"

"Yes." Vicki glared at Dorothy, who said, "Well, I've used the Ruby Slippers more than once."

"What are you getting at?" Vicki was not amused with Dorothy's 'explaination.'

"I used the Ruby Slippers to get back to Kansas the first time I used them."

Vicki was about to say something out of rage, but she stopped herself when she remembered that she couldn't get to the Land of Oz without some help from Glinda. So, she decided to asked about the Slippers to see how the shoes can help her at that time.

"How do they work?"

"I honestly don't know." Dorothy shrugged her shoulders as she responded to the question, "All I really know is that they used to belong to the Wicked Witch of the East."

"A Wicked Witch of the East!?" Vicki was shocked for a moment before she remembered that she was dealing with the 'Wicked Witch of the West,' so it would make sense that there was an eastern Wicked Witch.

Dorothy resumed the explaination as she giggled a little at Vicki's expression of shock changed into one of realization, "I also know that the Wicked Witch of the West also wants the slippers for herself."

"It makes sense that she would want them." Alice chimed in thoughfully, "After all, the slippers were her sister's."

"I know," Dorothy confirmed the British girl's words, "but try tellin' that to the Ruby Slippers."

Alice and Vicki looked at each other before looking at the princess's footwear for a moment, and then they looked at each other again before Alice asked the question that both her and Vicki were thinking of asking.

"Can the Ruby Slippers talk?"

Upon hearing the question, Dorothy was taken aback for a moment before she answered it.

"No, but the Ruby Slippers vanished from the Wicked Witch of the East's feet and reappeared on mine. While I'm thinkin' about it, the slippers still fit me, but I guess it's because they're magical."

Vicki knew that some magical items could fit onto their owner's body if needed, so that Dorothy being able to fit into the footweat was no true surprise to her.

"So, the slippers can get get us out of the Emerald City without Howl interfering with the magic of the Ruby Slippers?"

"It should be possible." The adopted princess stated in response, "I've never seen the slippers fail yet, not even in Upside Down Town."

"Upside Down Town?" Alice looked confused about the name, but Dorothy was able to clear up the confusion.

"As the name suggests, people do things there upside down, like wearing their shoes on their hands."

"You answered that rather calmly." Alice pointed out, but Dorothy stated, "I'm just tellin' the truth."

"Let's get back to the matter at hand," Vicki decided to return to the reason why Dorothy and Alice was in her room in the middle of the night, "are we leaving here to fight the Witches, right?"

"Right." The princess nodded to the young witch, "I'm just making sure that you want to go."

"Of course!" Vicki was loud enough to cause both Dorothy and Alice to hushed her, and once she was calmed down enough, the witch explained her reasoning to Dorothy.

"I was sent by Glinda and the Witches' Council to stop the Wicked Witches, and Howl's being overprotective, which is putting it lightly."

"Okay, then." Then, Dorothy turned to Alice, who was quick to say, "I'm prepared to fight whatever those two can throw at us."

"That's good to hear." The adopted princess smiled at the other two girls, but Vicki had a thought about Dorothy and decided to voice it to her.

"So, what are you going to do? Take us to the Wicked Witches' place and get back here?"

"No." Dorothy shook her head, "I'm goin' with you two."

"What!?" Vicki's eyes widened with shock, and then she looked at Alice and asked, "Did you know about this?!"

"At first, no." The British girl answered, "However, she had told me on the way to your room."

"Besides," Dorothy stepped to Vicki in Alice's defense, "I'm the one person in Oz that those two witches would forget their plans, whether it would be brief or long, to destroy."

"And why?" Vicki was starting to be annoyed with the princess, who answered the witch in a calm voice.

"Because I was the one that stopped them from destroyin' the Land of Oz and destoryed their powers."

"More the reason you should stay." Alice voiced her concern about Dorothy's safety, but the girl from Kansas has a response to that statment.

"I also know their greatest weakness."

"If you're talking about the Wicked Witch of the West's weakness to water," Vicki interjected her doubt, "the Power Emeralds are protecting her from water."

"I'm not talkin' about that weakness." Dorothy shook her head at the dark skinned girl, "I'm talkin' about their egos."

"Their egos?" Vicki and Alice repeated, causing Dorothy to explain what she meant about the witch's weakness.

"Yep; Those two were confident that they could capture and destory me easily since I was a child, but they were blinded by their own foolishness, which allowed me to defeat them and the Gnome King. While since I'm no longer that little girl, I'm confident that with the Power Emeralds in their possession, those two would be overconfident enough to believe that I can't stop them, or as the case is showin' we can't stop them."

"But we can!" Alice refused to believe that the witches had the upper hand in that matter.

"First," Vicki pointed out an important fact, "we need to get outta here before Howl tries to stop us."

"Agreed." Chimed Dorothy, "Just hold my hand and hold it tight."

Vicki took Dorothy's right hand, and Alice took the left, and the foreign girls waited for a few moments before the farmgirl-turned-princess rose to her tiptoes and clicked her heels three times, saying, "Please take us to the Dark Forest."

Vicki, Alice and Dorothy felt the magic of the Ruby Slippers circled around them for a few moments as they were taken from the Palace of the Emerald City to the entrance of the Dark Forest. The trip itself was as quick as a blink of an eye.

"Wow!" Vicki noticed that she was no longer in the Emerald City and close to her older cousin.

"Incredible!" Alice was in awe of the power of the Ruby Slippers, "If the Red Queen had these, I'd been in deep trouble."

Then, the unmistakeable sound of Toto's barking caused the girls to look at the wicker basket, and the little black dog popped out of basket with a happy yap. The sudden appearance of the small canine spooked the girls, who hopped out of fright.

"Dogdarnit!" Dorothy scowled the dog while she grabbed her chest, and the other girls, who were also holding their chests, could not help themselves from giggling at Dorothy's choice of words.

The adopted princess of the Land of Oz realized what she had said, and that caused her to have a fierce blush on her face.

"Oops..."

The two friends managed to stop giggling long enough to apologize for their laughter.

"Sorry about that, Dorothy." Vicki spoke first, "You looked so funny."

"Please, forgive us." Alice wiped a tear from her eye as she spoke, "We meant no disrespect to you."

"I know." Dorothy pouted, "I just don't like being laughed at by anyone."

"Again, we're really sorry." Vicki empathized with the adopted princess of the Land of Oz."

"I'm sorry too." Alice stepped towards the young princess.

"It's okay." Dorothy started to smile, "Now, we've got to enter the Dark Forest and find the Witches' castle."

"And try not to attract any unwanted attention." Alice pointed out to the group.

"Right." Vicki and Dorothy nodded in agreement.

Then, Dorothy pulled out her magic crystal from Crystal Land and stated, "I'll make sure that we reach the castle as soon as possible."

"How?" Vicki was curious about Dorothy's confidence about reaching the castle, which the Wicked Witches were at, and Dorothy was willing to answer the question.

"This crystal was made by the denizens of Crystal Land to help me out if I should ever find myself lost and needin' to find my way back to or straight to wherever I needed to go."

"All right!" Vicki smiled at the good fortune that she and Alice were having at that time.

Dorothy held the small crystal in her hands and said to the crystal, "Little crystal that holds a light, please take me to the castle this night."

The crystal lit up and emitted a beam of light, however it was going to the opposite direction of the Dark Forest, and that confused the girls greatly.

"Is the crystal supposed to do that?" Alice asked, just confused as the spellcasting princess, who thought of the explaination.

"Of course!" Dorothy bopped her head at her own foolishness, "I'm used to getting lost, and I often say that phrase to return to the Emerald City."

"That explains that mess-up." Vicki was mixed with a need to giggle and an annoyance to the adopted princess's foolish actions.

"Give me a moment to figure out how I can use the spell correctly." Dorothy stated, earning looks of annoyance from the girls.

"Should we leave her behind to find the Witches' castle ourselves?" Alice asked Vicki while expressing a look of a mixture of annoyance and concern about Dorothy's capablites of using any form of magic.

"No." Vicki refused the idea, "It's true that Dorothy did mess up the spell, remember that I wasn't a great magic user from the start myself."

"Good point." Alice agreed, but she was still unconvinced that the adopted princess was really needed for the rescue/prevention mission.

"I think I've got it!" Dorothy spoke up, getting the foreign girls' attention.

"Then, please get on with it." The British girl sharply stated to the farmgirl and earning a dirty look from the dark-skinned witch.

The adpoted princess ignored the statement and said the repharsed spell.

"Small crystal that holds a light, guide me to the Witches' castle tonight."

The crystal's glowing beam went to the right direction that time, and that caused Vicki to give a smug grin towards Alice, who stated, "Maybe I was mistaken about Dorothy this time."

"Let's go!" Vicki announced and she and the other girls followed the beam of light into the Dark Forest.

* * *

At the Witches' castle, Tech was still working on the machine that was going to cloak the Land of Oz in complete darkness, and while he was trying to make the progress slow, the enchanted collar forced him to work as quickly as he could while making sure that he did not make a mistake.

"Of course, those hags would make sure that I work without much chance of slowing down." Tech muttered angrily as his hands seemingly worked on their own accord.

Then, he noticed a light that was glowing from outside of the dungeon's window. Seeing this, he had mixed feelings about the beam of light, which he had given a voice.

"I'm glad about seeing the light, but I've got a bad feeling that the Witches aren't going to miss that."

In the Wicked Witch of the West's chamber, she was trying to think of a way to break through the newest barrier over the Emerald City, when she was a glow seep itself into her bedroom. She dashed to her window and looked out, seeing the beam of light, and that angered her.

Dashing out of her room, the green-skinned witch went to the room that had her crystal ball and demanded to see the person that was creating the way to her castle.

"Show me who's casting that location spell!" The hag hissed some great that stream could be expected to come out of her mouth.

The orb glowed for a moment, and then it showed her Dorothy, who was holding the magic crystal, Vicki and Alice. However, that sight placed a dark grin on the witch's face.

"How delightful..." The Western Witch cackled, "She's coming to see us. Mombi will be delighted to see that little brat once again."

Then, she spun around and shouted out for one of the flying monkeys, and one came within a few seconds.

"Go to Mombi and tell her that we're going to have guests coming by and she is to arrange a 'welcoming party' for them. If she should have any questions of why, tell her that it's a certain girl that ruined the both of us years ago."

The monkey nodded its head and dashed off to deliver the Wicked Witch's message to her ally. The Western Witch grinned darkly as she knew that Mombi was willing to do such a deed.


	6. Chapter 6

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Six

As the girls followed the magical beam of light, Vicki and Alice was prepared for anything that would come to attack the group, while Dorothy held the magic crystal and the basket that held Toto in it. Needless to say, the trio was expecting some form of unwelcomed company.

"Do you think that the Witches know that we're here yet?" Alice asked Vicki, who answered the question, "If they do know or not, I'm pretty sure that we'll know that soon enough."

"And that's the truth!" Dorothy stated without looking at the two foreign girls.

"What makes you such an expert of the subject?" Alice glared at the adopted princess, who turned to Alice's direction with a glare of her own and replied, "Because I've been through this kind of mess before with my friends."

"Which ones?" Alice was not backing from the farmgirl, who was doing the same thing.

"I faced the Wicked Witch of the West when I was seven years ago with Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion, when Oscar was the leader of the Emerald City. Half a year later, I was made into Mombi's prisoner with Billina and Tick Tock, and I had to escape with them, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Gump to the Gnome King's Kingdom, which is in the middle of the Deadly Desert! So, if you want to face those two Witches, then you're gonna be needin' my help, whether or not you like it!"

In shock by Dorothy's sudden sterness, Alice looked at Vicki for some kind of support, but Vicki did not offer anything of the kind to the British girl.

"Don't look at me, Alice; you're the one that said something to her out of annoyance."

Realizing that Vicki was right, Alice decided to bury her pride and followed Dorothy with Vicki at her side.

As the group resumed their terk, Toto popped out of the basket and started barking with his head tilted to the night sky. That halted the group.

"What's goin' on, Toto?" Dorothy asked the little dog.

"I'm thinking that the Witches know we're in the Dark Forest." Vicki started to the group.

"I thinkin' it's a little late for sayin' that." Dorothy looked up and saw a few winged beings flying towards the group, "Flyin' monkeys comin' down!"

Vicki headed the defensive by waving her hands at the on-coming creatures, whom were frozen in mid-air.

"What the?" Dorothy's suprise was not hidden from the other girl, but Vicki was the one that answered the incompleted question.

"Molecular immobiztion; it's a power that stops anything at a molecular level."

"Molecular?" Dorothy was sounding more confused with the answer, "Sounds like somethin' from science class."

"Only to an extent." Vicki giggled as Dorothy recovered from her confusion.

Toto started baking again, and this time, he was aiming the yelps at the road ahead of the group. Alice made a statement that time.

"There's more coming!"

"Yeah!" Dorothy stood still for a moment before she said, "The Wheelers are comin'!"

"The Wheelers?" Alice and Vicki asked in unison.

"The Wheelers are a group of people that Mombi enslaved when she was workin' with the Gnome King to takeover the Land of Oz. She re-enslaved them when she regained her powers via the Power Emeralds."

"Were the flying monkeys that same?" Alice asked the princess.

"Yes, but only with the Wicked Witches of the West and the East." Dorothy confirmed the question.

Then, the sound of wheels rolling on the road was heard by everyone of the group. Vicki was ready to use her magic to stop the Wheelers, but Alice intervened."

"Vicki, let me have some of the action." Alice sharply stated as she pulled out her bow and arrow.

When the first Wheeler came into sight, Alice released an arrow, which flew into the Wheeler's cloth and dragged the being into a tree.

"That's one down!" Alice smiled, but her victory was short-lived when she saw more of the Wheelers coming at them.

"And some more to go!" Vicki pointed out as she used her magic to push some of the enemy back from the group.

However, that move caused her to accidently free the flying monkeys from their frozen state.

"Great!" Vicki growled as she realized what had happened.

"Don't worry about it!" Dorothy bravely stated as she used the crystal to stop the beam of light, "I've got a spell just for this kind of situation!"

Then, Dorothy said, "Crystal of light that is small, repel my enemies with an invisible wall."

With the rhyme being said, the small magical crystal glowed so bright that it repulsed the flying monkeys and some of the Wheelers away from the group. That caused Alice and Vicki to be truly impressed.

"Glinda must've known that these Witches were going to do!" Vicki spoke first, and Alice asked, "Before or after Mombi stole the Power Emeralds?"

"I don't think that matters right about now!" Dorothy pointed to the remaining Wheelers, "We've still got those guys to worry about."

Alice fired a few more arrows, pinning some of the Wheeler to some of the trees. Vicki refroze the flying monkey, when they flew at the group again, and Dorothy dodged from any of the attacker that managed to evade from Vicki's magic and Alice's arrows.

"WHOA!" The adopted princess exclaimed when the first monkey flew at her. Dorothy managed to duck as well as grab the beast's tail. Then, she swung it to an approaching Wheeler, who had no time to escape the flung creature's path. The two crashed into each other, and that caused some of the Wheelers that were following behind to get knocked down as well.

"That's not the way things got done in the Land of Oz, but that's how things get done in Kansas!"

Vicki had to laugh when she heard Dorothy's bragging, and said to the princess, "That sounds about right!"

"Oh, like you have's done something like that before?" Dorothy asked before ducking from another flying monkey and doing the same thing to that feathered and furred being, but that time the flying monkey was thrown to one of its own kind."

"Not since I was little." Vicki answered before she froze another Wheeler.

"I wonder if Glinda would agree with that statement." Alice giggled, thinking how implusive Vicki can be sometimes.

"What's that-? Whoa!" Vicki tried to speak, but a flying monkey buzzed by her.

"I think we'd better focus on the fight." Alice shot another arrow, which hit the target's wing.

"Right!" Vicki nodded upon hearing Alice's words before she sent another flying monkey into a Wheeler's face.

"You'll get no arguin' from me!" Dorothy agreed as she sidestepped from a nearby Wheeler and tripped it, causing it to the ground with a thud. The princess winced upon hearing the fall, and she stated in a sympathic tone, "Ow! That's gonna hurt!"

Vicki chuckled in agreement upon hearing the fall and Dorothy's statement. Alice did the same thing.

Then, one of the Wheelers bumped into Dorothy, causing her basket to fly off her arm and knocking poor Toto out of his hiding place. After a quick recovery, the small dog yelped at the Wheeler that was catching Dorothy. When the barking failed, Toto ran up the Wheeler and bit him on the fleshy part of leg, and the Wheeler leapt up in shock of the bite and fell to the ground.

Dorothy giggled when she saw the events with Toto unfolded in front of her, and so did Vicki and Alice.

"Good boy!" Vicki shouted as she froze some more of the Wheelers.

Then, another flying monkey buzzed the dark-skinned witch, who used her magic to push the being into a tree, and the monkey was knocked out by the impact.

"That'll teach 'hem!" Vicki laughed out, but Alice chimed in, saying, "Look out behind you!"

But it was too late; Vicki was attacked by a falling Wheeler, which landed on the young witch.

Dorothy, who had heard the shout, looked over and went to Vicki's side to help the witch.

"I'm comin'!" Dorothy started to lift the fallen Wheeler to help the young witch to escape the weight of the creature.

Groaning from feeling the weight of Wheeler that was on her, Vicki also pushed to get the Wheeler off of her, which was successful with Dorothy's help.

Once the fallen flunking was off of her, Vicki turned to Dorothy and said to her, "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime!" The adopted princess replied before the two returned to the fight.

After a few minutes of fighting, the Wheelers and the flying monkeys realized that the girls were much tougher than they appeared to be and decided to flee back to the castle, willing to risk the Witches' fury against them. Vicki, Alice and Dorothy noticed this and were thankful that the battle was over.

"Thank goodness!" Exclaimed Alice as she wiped the sweat from her brow, "I don't know if I could've lasted any longer!"

"Same here." Vicki sighed out, feeling tired after using her magic for abnormally long time, since it would normal be for a few seconds, not for a half hour.

"Man, didn't expect this time that I'd be still standin' here after bein' attacked by the flying monkeys or the Wheelers!" Dorothy stated as she putted up Toto.

"Well," Vicki managed to recover enough to look around for any sign of tracks, "we know now that the Witches are expecting us to come to their castle. Now, we'll follow the retreating group to the castle."

"I see where you're gettin' at!" Dorothy snapped her fingers upon realizing what Vicki was talking about, and she started to pull out her magic crystal.

"You're seriously going to give off another beam of light?" Alice asked the adopted princess of the Land of Oz, who replied with a knowing smile on her face, "Not exactly."

Dorothy found the crystal and spoke another magical rhyme: Magic crystal full of light, glow so we can find the path in the night."

When the spell was spoken, the crystal's light glowed, but it was not emitting a ray of light. However, it was glowing bright enough to show the tracks that the Wheelers had left behind after the battle.

"That will work." Alice smiled at Dorothy's actions and how she used her present.

"Of course, it will!" Vicki nodded to the British girl, "However, it's going to be difficult now that the Witches know that we're here."

"And the Wicked Witch of the West has a magical crystal ball that can allow her to see anything and everything she wants to see." Dorothy recalled from her memory from the last time she was in the Western Witch's castle.

"Well, that's something that we needed to know about earlier." Alice stated harshly to Dorothy, who said in response, "I just remembered it; I was seven when I was in the Wicked Witch of the West's castle!"

"Alice..." Vicki shook her head at the British girl's sharp words towards Dorothy before saying, "Let's get going before the next wave come to us to stop us."

"Right!" Dorothy nodded before looking at Alice nervously. Then, she went to Vicki's side, and the three girls followed the tracks to the current home of the Wheelers, the flying monkeys and the Wicked Witches of Oz.

* * *

Back at the castle in the center of the Dark Forest, the retreating Wheelers and flying monkeys were seen returning by both of the Witches, whom were not pleased with their performance.

"Curses!" Hissed the green-skinned witch, "I've should have known that they'd pull something to protect themselves!"

Mombi was more thoughtful about what she had to say about the situation.

"They must have gotten some help from Glinda."

"Of course!" The Wicked Witch of the Witch pounded her fist into her hand, "That's how they were able to endure the attack!"

"And repelled it as well." Mombi chimed in, reminding her ally about the truth of the event.

"Whatever."

Mombi knew that she need to think of something to stop the group before the group reached the castle. However, her thoughts were halted when she heard the Western Witch cackling loudly to herself.

"What's so comical?" The fake princess asked her ally.

Mombi nearly jumped back when she saw the wild look in the Western Witch's eyes.

"Why don't we look up a few things about the little witch of the group?"

"What are you talking about?" Mombi was confused about her ally's choice of words, and the answer came swiftly.

"I recall that she had a diary, and it has all of her darkness secrets. If we have that, we'll have the witch where we want her!

"That would work!" Mombi gasped, agreeing with the green-skinned magic-user.

* * *

Back at Liberty University, Lisbeth had finished her finals and decided to hang out with Mary, since Vicki was off on her latest mission. It annoyed Lisbeth sometimes, but she knew that it was a part of Vicki's birthright and job.

"Night's fallen." Mary looked out of the window of her and her friends' favorite cafe in the River Ridge Mall.

"I know..." Lisbeth sighed bitterly as she finished her second cup of hot tea, "I just wish that she'd be back."

"Maybe she's back already!" Mary smiled at her Sweden friend, "Maybe she's tired from the mission."

"That's possible." Lisbeth thoughtfully stated as she rose from her seat, "Let's go."

"Right behind ya!" Mary hopped onto her feet as she and Lisbeth paid for their tea and went off to the dormrooms.

Upon their arrival to the dormroom, they heard the door knocking and the sound of the whistling wind in the room. This worried girls, who started to pull at the door.

"Mary!" Lisbeth shouted, "Move out of the way!"

Seeing the determined look on the Sweden's face, Mary backed away from the door, saying, "Yes, ma'am!"

With Mary out of the way, Lisbeth kicked down the door and become shocked at what she saw.

It was a tornado that was the height of the room and was causing things to fly from one side of the dormroom and to other parts of the room. With the flying items in the air, Lisbeth and Mary, who was just as shocked about the small cyclone in her room, were barely able to see what was going on, but Mary managed to see a certain object in the airborne mess.

"That's Vi's diary!"

Lisbeth heard this and saw the small blue book that was floating in the air and in the center of the storm.

"I got it!" The Sweden shouted as she leapt into action and into the whirling wind.

However, before Lisbeth could grab the book, the cyclone became stronger and nearly blasted both of the girls to the other side of the hallway.

"Whoa!" Mary managed to grab the doorframe, and a cussing Lisbeth was pushed back by inches, when she tried to grab the book once again. This time, she grabbed it.

"Gotcha!"

However, Lisbeth was not finished; reaching into her jacket pocket, Lisbeth threw the object as hard as she could, and it shattered into shards of light, which scattered throughout the dormroom.

With each item that the lights touch, the item was restored to its normal form and returned to itself to its original place before the unexpected tornado came into the room.

The tornado, itself, dispersed, allowing the dormroom to be return back to normal.

"Well, that's the end of that mess." Mary sighed out of relief as she re-entered the room.

"Hopefully!" Lisbeth dusted herself off as she looked at Vicki's diary carefully, making sure that it was not damaged.

"What was that thing that stopped the tornado?" Mary asked, not believing her eyes of what had happened in her dormroom.

"Vicki gave the magic-stopper to me," the Sweden girl explained to Mary, "in case she wasn't around to stop any magic that would find its way to the dorms."

"That makes sense to me." Mary could not think of anything else to say at that moment, but she managed to ask about the cyclone, saying, "What was a tornado doing in here?!"

"Maybe it's a part of Vi's current mission." Lisbeth thoughtfully stated as she realized something about the diary and asked Mary about it.

"Why does Vi have a diary outside of the computer?"

"Don't you remember?" The flower-loving girl asked before she answer Lisbeth's question, "With all of the computer hackers in her life, Vicki thought it would be safer for her secrets to be kept in a non-digitial diary."

"Oh, yeah." Lisbeth mentally kicked herself for forgotting that important bit of information.

"Well," Mary smiled at their success, "at least, Vicki's secrets are safe."

"Yeah!" Lisbeth nodded in agreement.

Then, Lisbeth went to Vicki's laptop computer and started it up, and that caused Mary to become very concerned, since Vicki did not like anyone, regradless if they were her friends or not, going through her personal files on her laptop.

"Lisbeth," Mary nervously asked the Sweden hacker, "what are you doing?"

"Checking up on Tech." Lisbeth bluntly replied.

"Seriously?!" Mary exclaimed at her friend, "I'm pretty sure that Vi's so going to be peeved about this invasion of privacy!"

"So?" Lisbeth made no eye contact with her friend as she continued to hack Vicki's laptop, "I'm only checking out Tech."

Mary slapped her hand onto her face, muttering things like, "It's not going to end well," and "It's going to be the Ed mess all over again."

"It's not like I'm hacking into Vi's laptop for fun." Lisbeth looked at Mary with a serious look on her face, "I'm just worried about her; I know that she's a big girl and a powerful witch, but I've been through hell with pissants pretending to be men, and I don't want the same thing to happen to her."

"I understand." Mary recalled Lisbeth telling of her past in strong detail, and while she is not the most honorable of people, but when it came to children or women that were attacked by a self-proclaimed 'man,' she acted like a defender and punisher to the attacker.

After a few minutes of silence aside of the typing, Lisbeth finally spoke, saying, "Got it!"

"Got what?" Mary looked over her friend's shoulder, curious about what Lisbeth was looking for on Vicki's personal computer.

"The link to Tech's computer!" Lisbeth was sounding excited about her hacking into Vicki's on-line boyfriend's computer, "This guy took some measures to make sure that entering his database didn't get hacked again so easily."

Then, the computer scene showed five animal-like beings on the video chat. The group had two rabbits, a road runner, a huge tasmanian devil and a duck, which was tied up with some rope.

 _"Are ya Vicki?"_ One of the rabbits, a male in a yellow and black outfit, asked the girl that was in the chair, and the odd-looking girl replied, "No; I'm her friend, Lisbeth."

 _"Lisbeth!?"_ The whole group exclaimed in shock upon hearing the name. Then, the pink-claded rabbit made a blunt statement, _"Now, we have a face to match the name."_

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, since all of them had heard about the hacker known as Lisbeth and her extremely threating and crude email to him a few weeks ago.

"I see that I've gotten myself famous on your side." Lisbeth seemed to beam with pride, but Mary was not feeling so pleased with her friend's actions.

"I've got a question." Mary asked the animals on the computer screen, "Are you guys friends with Tech?"

 _"Yeah."_ The tied-up duck eyed the girls as he spoke, _"What's it to ya?"_

"I was only wondering." The florist-in-training backed a little, worried about the reaction, regradless of whom the reaction was coming from, "Where is Tech?"

The group looked at each other with concern written on all of their faces before they answered the question.

 _"Tech's been kidnapped!"_ The yellow rabbit was the one that answered Mary, who felt a heaviness in the pit of her stomach, and that was felt by Lisbeth as well.


	7. Chapter 7

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Seven

Back in the Dark Forest, Vicki, Alice and Dorothy were making their way to the Wicked Witches' castle, and Dorothy was talking about the time that she and her friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and Toto, were in the Dark Forest, trying to get the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West.

"So, you and your friends were trying to steal the Wicked Witches' broomstick so you guys could get your wishes?" Vicki asked, sounding very surprised about the brunette's words.

"Yes." Dorothy replied with a nod along with Toto's yelp, "It was when I was seven years ago, and I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to go home."

"Which would cause anyone to act in such a manner." Alice voiced out her thoughts, recalling her own adventures in Underland when she was under the age of ten.

"I can't blame you for that." Vicki stated with a nod of her head, feeling the sympathy towards her friends.

"I was glad for having good friends back then, and I'm glad that I'm with good friends." Dorothy beamed out a smile, but a yelp from Toto caused her to add, "And so is Toto."

The Chosen One and the Slayer of the Jabberwocky giggled as Dorothy laughed at herself and her action to the dog's demanding bark.

The girls talked as long as they walked towards the castle, not knowing that they were being watched by the Witches once again.

"Curses!" Mombi shouted out, "Now, we can't stop the little witch!"

However, the Wicked Witch of the West was much more calmer than her ally was, and she voiced it as she reminded Mombi of something that they had learned about Vicki after their failed attempt at stealing Vicki's diary.

"Remember what we had learn from the little witch's friends when we failed to obtain her diary?"

"Yes?" Mombi was curious about Western Witch's thought process, not sure what to think about it.

"Those girls made contact with Tech's friends and revealed that girl is connected with Tech!"

It took a moment for Mombi to understand what the Wicked Witch of the West was saying, but when she mentally placed the pieces together, she exclaimed with a dark cackle.

"Of course!"

"Let's invite the little witch to the castle." The green-skinned hag prepared her spell to bring Vicki to them right away.

As the foreign female trio continued to make their way through the Dark Forest in the middle of the night, Vicki felt an uneasy chill go up her spine, causing to shake for a moment. That caused Dorothy and Alice to become concerned about their friend, although the girls each had their own reasons of concern.

"What's the matter? Feelin' cold?" The adopted princess inquiried out of a sincere concern, and Alice added with a question of her own.

"Are you feeling queer?"

That question caused Dorothy to worry for a few moments, but she figured that was the British girl's way of asking if Vicki was feeling sick and chose to leave that matter alone for the time being.

"I just felt a chill," Vicki answered the questions with only one statement, "a very weird one."

"A weird chill?" Dorothy was confuse about the situation, but Alice was really concerned at that point.

"Vicki, do you recall that time when you and I were attacked by the Bandersnatch?"

"Yeah, and boy did it scratched you up!" Vicki exclaimed with a painful-looking expression as she remembered that time.

"Yes." Alice rubbed her shoulder, which was where the Bandersnatch had scarred her in the past, "Do you recall the 'weird chill' that you've felt before the attack?"

"Yea-" the witch realized what Alice was hinting at and said, "Oh, boy..."

Then, the wind kicked up, causing the girls to cover their eyes to keep dirt, dust and other things out of them.

"What's happenin'!?" Dorothy demanded to know, hoping that one of the others had the answer.

"For all I know, it's only a horrible thing that is occuring right now!" Alice yelled into the wind, which delivered the reply to the adopted princess.

Vicki could barely hear her fellow allies as the wind whipped around her, seemingly closing in on her. Then, she felt a sensation that caused her to panic.

"I'm floating!"

The scream pulled Alice's and Dorothy's attentions to her, and they gasped upon seeing the floating witch. Dorothy was the first to act in response to this unexpected change of events.

"Grab my basket!"

Vicki obeyed the princess's order and reached for the basket, which she managed to grab, but her hold was too weak to hold on, causing her fingers to slip off the handle. That was the last thing that Vicki was able to do before being dragged into the sky by the wind.

As the wind left with Vicki, Alice and Dorothy wiped out the dirt and leaves off of their bodies and talked about what they should do as their next course of action.

"What should we do now?" Alice asked first, and Dorothy bluntly answered, "Continue our way to the Witches' castle."

"Why?" Alice asked the adopted princess, expressing her concern for their magical ally, "Vicki could be somewhere else!"

"With the Witches blocking the magic comin' into the Dark Forest," Dorothy sharply pointed out to Alice, "how could anyone bring her from here to somewhere else in the Land of Oz?"

"What if the Witches sent her out of the forest?" Alice replied with a question of her own, and Dorothy retroted back to the British girl.

"What if the Witches took Vicki to their castle?"

"How do you know that they had not banished her from the Dark Forest?" Alice's anger started to show on her face.

Toto popped his head out of the basket, and he noticed that his owner and Alice having a heated arguement. With a whine, Toto lowered his head to his paws, having a powerful feeling that the agruement between the two young women was going to take a while before it was going to end.

* * *

Vicki tried to maintain her sense of direction as she spun in the small whirlwind, however the only thing that was being maintained was the small tornado. The witch wondered how long the winds were going to carry her in the air, and she was going to find out within a few moments.

Then, the winds died down suddenly, and the next thing Vicki knew was that she was falling down. Being quick-witted, Vicki orbbed herself to a point that was closer to the height that she was at, and once of stable ground, she took a few moments to recover from the fall.

"That was too close." Vicki sighed out of relief as she looked around the area, and soon she realized that she was not on the ground; she was on one of the towers of the Wicked Witch of the West's castle.

"Uh, oh." Vicki stated weakly upon seeing that she was on a poorly repaired roof, but she decided to take her chances and started to carefully climb down and as quietly as she could.

Once on the eave and hanging from it, she swung forward until she felt one of the hole in the stone wall under her feet, Vicki started to pray that the stones were strong to hold up her weight, as she continued to climbed down the castle walls. Thankfully for her, the dark-skinned witch managed to reach one of the castle's outdoor walkpaths, which were lit by some nearby torches.

Taking a quick look around, Vicki saw no one walking around or standing guard, and she hear no one talking about anything. That made her feel very concerned about her situation.

"What's going on around here?" Vicki asked under her breath as she started looking for a way into the castle to search for Tech, the machine and/or the Witches.

Entering one of the towers and having herself in a well-lit hallway, Vicki quietly looked for any sign of any of the three that she was seeking either to save or to stop. It seemed that the inside was as empty and as quiet as it was outside the tower.

"Looking for something?" A voice caused Vicki, who was not expecting to see and/or hear anyone at that time, to look to her right.

The young witch was able to see a older woman with pale skin and a bun of hair, but she was not able to evade the woman's powerful backslap. Upon the impact of the slap, Vicki was sent flying back a few feet towards the very door that the younger witch had entered the area.

The combination of the witch's backslap and Vicki's landing onto the stone floor caused Vicki to lose conscienous within the minute of landing on the hard floor. Vicki saw the blurred image of the surprisingly strong woman advancing towards her, and yet the young witch's mind was on one person.

"Tech..."

As Vicki's form went limp, Mombi smiled darkly at the fallen witch's body, knowing that she was able to capture her. Putting her fingers to her lips, Mombi let out a loud whistle, and following that, a small group of flying monkeys appeared, ready to follow the older witch's orders.

"Take this girl to the dungeon and make sure that she's in one of the magic-proof cages." Mombi pointed at the limp form of Vicki.

The furred and featherd creatures obeyed the witch's command, carrying the foreign witch's body to another part of the castle.

Unbeknowest to the servants and Mombi, the Auryn, which was hidden in Vicki's patterned shirt, was granting the most recent wish of its wearer.

Meanwhile in one of the dungeons, a click and a thud echoed throughout the stone and metal rooms, and following this were the sounds of confusion and relief.

"Wow..." Tech nervously laughed a little as he rubbed his sore neck, "I was starting to think I'd never get that thing off of my neck."

Then, he heard some noise outside of the wooden door that led to the room he was a prisoner in, and Tech swiftly kicked his collor under the workbench before the flying monkeys hopped into the room with their prisoner. The coyote had to keep his head facing the machine, pretending to still be working on it as the furry and winged primates threw their prisoner into one of the magic-proof cells.

Tech had sensed that something hit him on the foot, but it was too small and too slow to cause him any pain. Being just as quick as he was with his disabled collor, the green and black-claded canine carefully placed his foot onto the item and pulled it to the area between his feet.

Once the flying monkeys departed from the dungeon, the coyote sighed out of relief once more before he reached down and grabbed the item. He was surprised about the item's shape and color.

"Wow! Vicki would love this!" Tech quickly exclaimed as he examined the color of sapphire blue and the heart shape of the locket, and then he thoughtfully asked himself, "Hope I can make a trade with the owner!"

Then, he noticed something on the locket, and that caused him to open it. The contents of the locket caused Tech to be truly suprised, and it was not in a good way.

Turning around to see the prisoner, Tech was shocked upon seeing the most recent captive of the two Wicked Witches.

"Vicki..." The name fell from Tech's lips upon seeing his beloved's form laying on the stone ground of the dungeon.


	8. Chapter 8

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Eight

Vicki felt her head spinning from both the ride in the magical tornado and the unexpected attack from the strange woman, and the pain rang throughout her skull as she regained her conscieniousness. However, she was trying to be careful not to get onto her feet too quickly, but she managed to fall, but someone caught her through the metal bars of her cell, and that confused her for a second.

"You should be more careful." The person that caught her spoke in a mixed toned voice.

"Tech?" Vicki's mind was still spinning, but she managed to look over her shoulder and saw the coyote's face. Seeing her beloved's face looking at her, Vicki spun her body and reached back to hug Tech, only to have the embrace limited by the bars of her cell. However, she did not care at the moment.

"Thank God you're all right!"

"Yeah..." Tech's half-hearted response caused some concern to form in Vicki's mind.

"Tech, what's wrong?"

A moment passed before the coyote gave his reply to the witch's question as well as he returned her sapphire locket.

"OH!" Vicki exclaimed with relief, "My locket!" Then, she realized something about this moment, and that caused her to ask a question.

"Did you look inside it?"

Tech was quiet for a moment before saying, "Well, I _now_ know that he's not a cousin of yours."

Vicki took the locket and opened it, revealing a picture of her with a young man with glasses and a black hat on his head, and the both of them were smiling. The young witch sighed out a heavy exhale as the memories of her time with the man in the picture came flooding back to her.

"I'm so sorry, Tech." Vicki's guilt was evident on her face, "I meant to tell you about Ed, but I wanted that discussion face-to-face."

"Now's as good as a time as any other." Tech gave the witch a stern glare, which demanded an explaination.

"I don't think that we've got the time to talk about this." Vicki tried to steer the conversation to the more urgent matter, "The Witches are about to make their move."

"Not until someone called 'Dorothy' makes it to the castle." Tech pointed out a couple of facts, "After that, they're planning to show her how 'she failed to save the kingdom' before they put the whole land into complete darkness."

A moment of an akward silence came and went before the two prisoners before Vicki voiced her question.

"You really want to talk about it now?"

"We might not have a later after Dorothy comes here." Tech was blunt with his reply.

Vicki was quietly considering her options, and then she reached the conclusion that Tech was right. Deciding that it was possibly the last time that they could talk about anything, Vicki started to explain herself about the young man in the photograph.

"His name's Edward Nygma, Ed for short, and he also goes by the name 'Riddler.'"

"'Riddler?'" The coyote's eyebrow rose as he asked, and Vicki replied, "Yes, he picked the name out himself, and I didn't think it was that original myself."

Then, Vicki resumed her explaination to Tech, saying, "I was assigned to Gotham City to watch over a young orphan, who was under the protection of his family's butler, and I befriend both of them. I also befriended another orphan, who was a skilled thief and liked cats. The Witches' Coucil felt that Bruce Wayne, the orphan, and Alfred Pennyworth, the butler, had a powerful influence in the future in Gotham, and they wanted me to make nothing happens to them. They also sensed that Selina Kyle's path is intertwined with Bruce's, so I had to protect her too.

"I meet Ed at the Gotham Cafe; I went there when I received an assignment to put up one of my evil aunts, who was an ex-fairy godmother that managed to get herself trapped in a mirror."

Tech noticed that Vicki shuttered, which was an action that the witch that whenever she was talking about a member of her huge family that had practiced evil magic or actions. The coyote recalled the name of the trapped ex-fairy grandmother that was Vicki's evil aunt.

"Your Aunt Claudia, who tried to convince you to join the 'Dark side' of magic?"

"That's her." Vicki nodded as she confirmed the guess as the truth, and Vicki's eyes started to fill up with tears from recalling the painful memory. Tech touched Vicki's shoulder in an attempt to comforting her, and the young witch was willing to accept it, saying, "Thank you, Tech."

"No problem." Tech managed to smile, in spite of the fact that he just had discover that Vicki had a boyfriend that she had failed to mention to him.

Vicki wiped the tears from her eyes and gently grabbed Tech's offered hand before she continued her tale of Edward Nygma.

"I went to the cafe to get some coffee to help me calm down before I had to go get her. Then, I noticed that the guy at the table next to mine was working on back-to-back puzzles, and he was finishing them in a fast pace. I approached him and asked him from his help on fixing the mirror that Aunt Claudia was trapped in, and he answered the request with a riddle, which annoyed me."

"Why?" Tech smirked as he asked Vicki upon seeing the witch's face twist with annoyance at the memory, "Didn't get the right answer for the riddle?"

"I did!" Vicki threw a dark glare at the masked coyote, "It's just the fact that he had answered a question with a question!"

That caused Tech to laugh out, since he knew that Vicki did not enjoy being on the receiving end of any rudeness. Vicki shot another glare at Tech before she talked about her ex-boyfriend.

"I corretly answered the riddle, and then he told me that he was willing to help me. He even offered to buy me a French vanilla coffee. I tried to refuse, but he was insisant about it, so I gave in."

"And that's how you and Ed met!" Tech flatly stated, and Vicki could not deny that statement.

"Yeah." Vicki started to figet with her fingers, "I only sought him out as someone to help me put my Aunt Claudia back together before she was sent to the Other Realm Police."

"But sometime after your aunt's 'rescue?'" Tech asked, rising an eyebrow at the young witch.

"Yeah, we fell in love." Vicki made no attempt at hiding the truth from Tech, "After that, I was still on assignment to watch over Bruce as well as any other that the Witches' Coucil give me and my homework from Campbell Country High."

"High?" Tech asked Vicki, "As in 'high school?'"

"Yes."

"How old were you when you and Ed meet?"

"Fifteen." Vicki could hear the angry rising in the coyote's voice, and it became more evident upon hearing that answer.

"And how old was Ed?" Tech was furious, but he managed to his rage leashed down for only a few moments.

"I never really got that bit of information." Vicki muttered, but Tech heard every word of the answer.

"You didn't know!?" Tech was outraged at that point, "Seriously!?"

"The question never came into my mind!" Vicki weakly defended herself, and Tech's fangs were bared in anger.

"This guy could have really taken advantage of you! You were barely a quarter through high school! What, in heaven's name, were you thinking at time?!"

"I was in love with him!" Vicki snapped back, "I will admit that I was a little young to be looking for love, but love's one of those things that tends to happen, whether you like it or not!"

After that, the two fell silent for a minute or two, and the tension was thick enough that it was nearly solid. However, Tech was the one to end the tension.

"Did you and him...?" Tech tried to ask, but he did not what to finish the question.

"What are you asking, Tech?" Vicki asked the coyote, still angry with him.

Tech really did not want to finish the question for a few reasons, which were mostly personal, but he managed to ask the question before he lost his nerve.

"Did you give yourself to Ed?" Tech blushed as he looked at Vicki, who noticed that the coyote's nervous expression.

"Only my heart; Ed respected me too much to do such a thing to me." The young witch shook her head, smiling when Tech's body relaxed and a sigh escaped from the canine's lips.

"Thank goodness."

Vicki saw the relief wash over Tech's face, causing his anger-twisted face to relax. However, she needed to tell him something that she had done while she was dating Ed, but she knew that Tech was going to become enraged with her, when she spoke about it.

"I did, however, move in with him."

"WHAT!?"

Vicki was right about the reaction, but she did understimate his volume as she covered her ears. Once she had recovered, she explained that part with a statement that could have been viewed as an excuse.

"Like I had said, I was a sophmore in high school when all of this happened!"

"Maybe," Tech responded, "but what about the Witches' Council? I'd bet that they didn't like hearing that one of witches decided to move in with a guy that was 'powerless.'"

"They weren't." Vicki did not hide that fact, "They were especially angry when I sealed away my powers into a locket that I've had since I was a baby."

Tech was a genius, and he did not need to be one to add up what Vicki was trying to do with Ed at that time.

"You wanted to live a normal life with Ed." The coyote correctly assumed, feeling his anger rising again in his body.

"Yeah." Vicki admitted with a sigh on her lips. Then, she remembered the name's of the area that she lived in with Ed.

"Cherry's Place in the Narrows of Gotham City."

"Huh?" The coyote did not understand what the young witch was talking about, and asked, "Care to explain what you're talking about?"

"Ed lived in the Narrows, which is a part of Gotham, and Cherry's Place, which was a fight club, was where I'd worked at while I was living with Ed."

"A fight club?" Tech asked before remarking in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, that's a normal life."

"Maybe it's not a lifestyle for normal people," Vicki gave her retrot, "but from my point of view, it was."

Tech wanted to rebuff the statement, but he realized that Vicki, who was a born witch with many aunts, uncles, cousins and many 'family friends' from a multitude of worlds and dimensions, was being honest about the whole 'normal life' prespective. Then, he started to ask a question that related to her 'job' in the fight club.

"I might be asking a dumb question, especially since I know what your major is, but what was your job at the fight club?"

Vicki giggled before she answered the canine's enquiry.

"I was the costume designer and stitcher for Grundy, who was the fighting champ."

"Did Ed work at Cherry's Place?" Tech's fangs were showing again at that point.

"He was the manager and co-owner of Cherry's Place." Vicki simply stated in response to the question as she noticed Tech's fangs.

"Who owned the place with Ed?" The canine fished for more information.

"Leslie Thompkins, aka Lee, was the co-owner and the doctor at Cherry's Place."

"So, the name 'Cherry' is a cover?" Tech asked Vicki, who said, "No, Cherry was the owner until Barbra Kean shot her."

"WHAT!?" Tech's outburst nearly was loud enough for some of the nearby lackeys of the Witches to hear him.

The coyote covered his mouth, and Vicki fell silent, hoping that no one heard the shout. At that point, Tech was wishing that he had been granted the power to sonic hearing, like Lexi from his team had. An hour-like minute passed before the two resumed their conversation.

"What about this Barbra shooting the original owner?" Whispered Tech, trying not to arouse any attention from Princess Mombi, the Wicked Witch of the West or any of their underlings.

"I knew that she wasn't all there," Vicki defended herself, "but I didn't know how far it went until then. Besides, Cherry was a bi-."

The young witch covered her mouth, nearly forgetting that the word 'bitch' was not viewed as a negative term by beings, like Tech. Quickly, the dark-skinned girl stated, "I mean a real backstabber."

"But that wasn't enough to convince you to go home?" Tech was not liking what he had just heard.

"During that time," Vicki's eyes started to tear up, "I _was_ home."

Hearing that, Tech started to bite his lip to keep himself from yelling again, which was mostly to protect himself and Vicki from the Witches' ears and tricks.

"In the Narrows, the four of us were very popular, although there were a few times that things got rough." Vicki spoke, seemingly unaware of Tech's small course of action. The statement stopped the coyote from biting his bottom lip.

"Like what?"

"Ed's past was the most fequent issue." Vicki sighed out, looking very sad.

Seeing the depressed look on the young witch's face, Tech's anger decreased as he asked, "Can you give me some more of the details?"

"Well, there's the issues that he had with Oswald Cobblepot, who was the head of the Cobblepot crime family." Vicki made no attempts at hiding the truth, "Especially since Oswald had Ed's second girlfriend killed."

"Why did he do that?" Tech was confused at that point.

"I don't really know," Vicki shrugged her shoulders, "but the rumors about Oswald having feelings from Ed before Ed met Isabella might have been a clue."

"But you have nothing soild at the time." Tech just stated to Vicki.

"To this day, I still don't know." Vicki added.

"Did this Oswald try to do anything to you?" Tech asked, feeling very unsure about Vicki's true feeling towards him.

"Nothing that I'm aware of." Vicki answered, causing Tech to be relieved about her safety at the time.

"And Cherry?" The canine asked, and the witch replied, "I didn't get much time to know her, but what I did, I knew I didn't like her."

"If she really was a backstabber, she wasn't likely a well-like person." Tech chuckled at the thought at Vicki's possible reaction to Cherry.

"Well, she's not important in this converation." Vicki shook her head, not wanting to talk about Cherry anymore.

"What about Barbra?" Tech was worried about the murdering female that had killed Cherry.

"I wasn't a friend of hers, but I was familiar with her." Vicki replied to the question.

"And Oswald?" Tech added, and Vicki quickly answered.

"I had nothing against him, although I did stop Ed from carrying out his plans for revenge against him for killing Isabella."

"So, Oswald owes you his life, right?" Tech was curious about the whole matter.

"Yeah, but he's more likely to kill me to hide that fact." Vicki shook her head as she corrected the canine, "So, I hide that fact from him and everyone else."

"That doesn't sound like this Cobblepot guy's very grateful." Tech bluntly stated, not liking what he had just heard from Vicki's own lips.

"Most crime bosses aren't usually the grateful types," Vicki shrugged her shoulders as she responded to Tech's statement, "and he and I never met."

The canine sighed out of relief, thankful that Oswald did not try to harm Vicki just because he did not know anything about Vicki.

"Anyone else that would love to see you fall?" Tech earned a glare from Vicki, who was silent for a few moments before she decided to answer.

"No one really comes to mind right now?"

Tech breathed out another sigh before he resumed his questions about what he hoped was Vicki's ex-boyfriend.

"When did he give you the locket?"

Before she replied to the question, Vicki allowed a smile to form itself onto her face at the sweet memory, and that caused Tech to feel both regretful about asking and jealous about her feelings towards Ed.

"After a few months in the Narrows, I got sick, and it was the first time in my life that I was sick and away from my parents. I was lucky that Lee was taking care of me at the time, so I was able to get better faster."

At that point, the young witch looked at the sapphire-shaded locket, saying, "During that time, Ed gave me this locket and the picture that was inside of it. I still think that this gift really helped me get better."

Tech felt another twinge of jealousy as he listened to Vicki's story, but he managed to keep his anger in check and bit his lip again. However, he asked another question after a few moments of silence.

"So, what happened that caused you to break things off with Ed, if you did break up?"

Vicki's eyes changed from fond happiness to pure sadness upon hearing the question from Tech. Despite of the pain the memory had brought to her, she managed to respond to the canine's question.

"It happened a month or two after I got well. The Witches' Council were angry with me for not returning home after my mission to watch over Bruce and for choosing love over duty. They even sent Sabrina Spellman and her apprentice, Beatrix to talk some sense into me."

"Did they succeed?" Tech's growling was mixed into the enquiry, and Vicki heard it, but she chose to overlook that for the time being.

"No." Vicki answered sharply, "They'd even told me that if I didn't return to doing my duty as a Chosen One, the Witches' Council was going to give the job to my cousin, Kristen."

"Kristen?" The coyote recalled something that Vicki had told him during one of their on-line chats, "The one that married the Santa Claus of her world, and that was before that Barnicle guy that didn't like anything remotely cheerful stole her husband's magic sack?"

"No, that was Carol." The young witch replied, "However, that's something that happened when I was in middle school."

"Right," Tech chuckled at himself a little, "I must've gotten mixed-up in the details."

Vicki managed to smile a little herself upon hearing Tech's laughing at himself, and then she resumed her story, starting back to Sabrina and Beatrix.

"Well, Sabrina and Beatrix came to Gotham to try to talk some sense into my head, even telling me that I wasn't going to be a Chosen One anymore, if I didn't go home, but I didn't want to listen; I didn't care that he had killed people before meeting me, because he was never quick to attack or harm me. Heck, we didn't even have one agruement in our relationship."

"Then, what happened that caused you two to part ways?" Tech was so curious about what caused Vicki and Ed to stop seeing each other.

Vicki was silent for much longer than Tech had expected, and that caused the coyote to become concerned about the witch's past and how bad the break up could have been.

"Ed was the one that ended the relationship."

"What?" Tech was shocked to hear such a thing. He was sure that he misunderstood her, so he asked again, hoping that Vicki was trying to joke around to make sure that he was paying attention.

"Ed. Broke. Off. The. Relationship." Vicki repeated herself in a slower pace.

That really surprised Tech, who was positive that it was someone else's doing, since he knew that she was so much in love with him.

"But why?" The coyote's voice was trembling with confusion.

"When Sabrina and Beatrix failed to convince me to end things, they went to Ed, hoping he'd talk some sense into me. I have an idea that they've told him that many worlds need me to protect them and that my parents were worried about me."

"So, what was it that changed his mind?" Tech gulped loudly, worried about what Vicki was about to say.

"Sabrina and Beatrix told him that my grades were slipping."

"What?"

"I was missing so many days at school, and my grades were falling faster than I'd expected. When Ed was told about my grades dropping, espeically during the time that he was in a deep freeze by Dr. Fries, he deicded that we would be better apart."

"He realized that he was standing in the way of your education." Tech stated as his angry and envy towards Edward Nygma started to slowly expire.

Vicki, however, was shaking so hard that Tech became worried about her, asking, "Vicki, are you all right?"

The young witch pulled herself from her memories, but she was still shaking from the anger that was summoned by the past. The tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Sorry about that, Tech. I'm still so upset about the whole thing, even when the Witches' Council allowed me to still contact him."

"What!?" Tech was not happy about that statement, "You're still seeing him!?"

"Yes." Vicki sounded very regretful as she spoke, "However, I still care for the guy, regardless of what he did. But I've come to realize that it was for the best."

Hearing the hurt tone in Vicki's voice, Tech's fury died down as he asked, "Why?"

"I grew up, and Ed wasn't really the same after Dr. Fries turned him into an icy statue by the orders of Oswald."

A moment of silence fell upon them, and despite his rage about Vicki hiding a secret from him, he still had a few enquiries to ask.

"Does anyone else know about him?"

"Inside or outside the family circle?" Vicki asked, feeling like she was asking a foolish question.

"Outside."

Tech needed to know, but he was worried about the friends that was allowed to know about Vicki's romantic past.

"Who?"

"Mary, Lisbeth and a few others..." Vicki muttered under her breath, but Tech was able to hear her words.

"Seriously?" The coyote exclaimed, while trying not to arouse the witches or the lackeys, "And me?"

"Like I'd said earlier, I wanted to tell you, but I was waiting for the right time to do that."

Tech was not happy about the whole thing, but hearing the story about Vicki and Ed caused to think of something, and he did not hesitant to ask the question.

"And the Witches' Council's thoughts about him and me?"

"When it came to Ed, they were not happy about my behavior, and they made sure that I was punished for breaking their rules and worrying my parents." Vicki admitted with a heavy sigh, before adding with a sweet smile, "After meeting you, they ran a full background check on you, and besides the fact that you put a self-destruct button on a machine from extra credit, they okayed you being with me."

"Really?" Uncertainess was dripping out of Tech's voice.

"Really." Vicki nodded to Tech, "You were considered to be acceptable by the council by your powers, but..."

"'But?'" Tech repeated, wanting to know what Vicki was trying to say.

"They told that even without your powers, you would have been their apology for what happened between me and Ed."

"What?" Tech was just confused about the statement that was given to him.

"That took me by surprise too." Vicki looked at the locket with her's and Ed's picture in it, "They told me that they were touched by Ed having enough love in his heart to make sure that I was going to have a good future, that they allowed me to be able to have a love, should I ever find love again."

"That's a surprise." Tech was so stunned by the statement, "So, they're not against me being with you? Romantically?"

"Yep." Vicki was starting to have anger in her voice, and then the fury flooded out of her mouth.

"That's not right! They think that allowing me to be with someone that I've only seen on a computer screen makes up for the years of sadness that I've endured after Ed broke up with me!"

Vicki's tears started to fall as she spoke, and when she ended her small rant, the young witch started to cry.

Tech was heartbroken to see Vicki in this state, and reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder.

"That's okay, Princess." Tech tried to soothe Vicki, "We're together now."

"I know," Vicki sniffed as she spoke, "but it's still not fair and not right!"

Tech could only sigh as he held on to Vicki's shoulder and tried to comfort her.

"Man!" Tech groaned in annoyanc, "These bars are in the way!"

Vicki wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "I'll take care of that."

As Vicki rose to her feet, Tech said, "We're in the Witches' castle; I don't think using your magic's gonna work very well."

"Thankfully," Vicki flashed a wily grin, "I know a few tricks without any magic."

Tech was preplexed by the announcement as Vicki reached into the inside pocket of her blue jacket and pulled out a tool.

"Is that a lockpick?"

"Yep!" Vicki went to the key hole and started to work on unlocking the cell door, "It'll take a few moments.

With great skill, Vicki managed to free herself from the cage. Tech, upon seeing Vicki out of the cell, was quick to hug her.

"Who taught you to pick locks?" Tech asked without letting her go.

"Ed." Vicki blushed as she was worried that Tech was going to be upset with her about that bit of information. However, the coyote's reaction was different than what she had expected from him.

"Remind me to thank him for that, if I do encounter him."

Confused by what she had heard, Vicki looked up the coyote, who was smiling down at her.

"What did you say?"

"Hey," Tech started to confess, "I've just realized that I've got no right to get angry with you for being in love, especially since I've done a few thing that I'm not too proud about. So, how about you and me go enjoy some of the local places after we deal with my so-called 'hostesses?'"

Vicki gasped and realized that she had confessed her past with Ed to Tech and in the base of the Wicked Witches, and she did not know if they heard anything or not. She was upset again, but it was at her own carelessness!

"OH, NO!"

"Don't worry about it." Tech said with a confident smirk, "From what I've heard, those two are too busy worrying about finding Dorothy that they'll be easedropping on us.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry, Tech." Vicki glared at the coyote.

"Good point." Tech laughed, "Especially about the collar they put on me."

"Collar?" The dark-skinned witch was confused when Tech removed his arms from her and went to a work station.

Tech knelt down and grabbed something from under a bench. The item looked like a collar that one would put on a pet. Then, the coyote explained the object.

"The Witches used this to control me while I worked on their machine. The strange thing is it fell off a few moments before you were dragged into this place."

"Really?" Vicki was confused, and that moment of thought, she felt an object under her shirt. Then, she remembered, "The AURYN!"

"The what?" Tech was now the confused one, and Vicki was able to explain.

"The AURYN is a special object from Fantastica's ruler, the Childlike Empress; it has the power to grant anyone's wishes."

"Anyone's?" Tech was concerned about what Vicki meant.

"Anyone's." Vicki confirmed with a nod, "That's why it's usually with someone from Fantastica."

"Yeah." Tech shook at the thought of someone evil having such a powerful object.

"However," Vicki added, "It can only be given and taken by the Childlike Empress herself; no one can in any way possible."

"That's good to hear." Tech sighed out of relief, and then he looked at the darkness-making machine that he was forced to build and said, "I just wish that we can wish away this monsterous machine."

"Yeah..." Vicki agreed as her thoughts flooded into her mind.

She knew that their must be a way to stop the Witches' dark plan, but she could not think of a way to do so. Reaching into her pocket, she felt something that was familiar at her fingertips.

"What?" The witch asked herself as she pulled out the object from her pocket.

"Glinda's crystal?" Vicki muttered to herself, remembering when she first found the crystal in the enelope that the mentor had given her. Then, she remembered that Dorothy had one and how she used it to help them through the Dark Forest, and it helped her in making the plan to stop the Wicked Witches.

"That's it!"

"What's it, Vicki?" Tech looked at Vicki with a curious look on his face.

"Tech," Vicki asked, "can you make one more modifiation to the machine?"

"What kind of modifiation are you talking about?" The coyote eyed the young witch and expressed a look of concern.

"Just one that'll help us stop the Witches once and for all." Vicki winked as she waved the crystal in her hand.

"Okay," Tech got the hint and took the crystal, "but I'd better make it quick; we don't know how much time we have before they catch this Dorothy Gale."


	9. Chapter 9

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Nine

Back with Dorothy, Alice and Toto, the two girls managed to agree to get to the Witches' castle, and the little dog was happy that they were on the move again. However, the girls were still annoyed with each other.

"So, how do we reach their castle?" Alice's tone was sharp with Dorothy, who was quick to respond with a snap.

"We follow this trail!"

Toto whimpered as he heard the arguement between the two young women start up again. He hoped that the arguing would end sooner than the last one.

Then, the sky was darken again, causing concern among the group. Dorothy and Alice pulled out thier weapons, and Toto ducked back into the basket.

"Here we go again." Dorothy muttered as one of the flying monkeys flew down at the small group.

Alice, with a bow and arrow, shot down the nosediving primate in the wing. The monkey lost its ability to fly, but it managed to make it to a tree to keep from crashing onto the ground.

"One down." Alice smirked, but Dorothy added sharply, "And a bunch to go."

* * *

Back in the dungeon of the Wicked Witches, Tech and Vicki were busy working on fixing the machine so it would not work exactly as it was supposed to do. During that time, Vicki kept an ear out for anyone that might come their way, and no one had came their way.

"Looks like most of them are gone." The witch turned to the coyote, who had finished working on the machine.

"Well, everything's in place." Tech wiped his brow with a clean part of his uniform, "Hope it'll work."

"I will." Vicki smiled at her beloved, "I've seen it in use, and I'm positive that it'll work."

"So, what do we do now?" Tech grabbed a rag to clean his clothes and fur.

"Talk?"

The coyote shrugged his shoulders and said, "About what?"

Vicki thought for a moment and answered, "How about how you got here?"

"Okay."

Tech and Vicki sat on the bench and talked for a while, and they made sure that they listened for anyone that could have tried to enter the dungeon.

* * *

With Alice, Dorothy and Toto in the Dark Forest, the flying monkeys had re-enforcements arrived in the form of the Wheelers. The combined forces were able to hinder Dorothy's efforts, while Alice had ran out of arrows and was using her sword to fend off the duel forces. Toto even entered the fray, biting the wheels of the Wheelers and the tails of the flying monkeys, and none of opposing forces enjoyed being bitten by the little dog.

"How many are there?" Alice asked Dorothy, who answered bluntly and loudly, "I don't know! The last time I've fought off these guys was when I was seven years old!"

Then, one of the flying monkey sneaked behind Dorothy and grabbed at her, and that caused her to shriek from the grabbing monkey.

"Let go!" Dorothy screamed as she swung her free arm at the flying monkey, who was sent flying into a tree upon impact of the girl's counterattack.

"Nice backhand!" Alice commented, sincerely impressed with Dorothy's strength.

"Thanks." The adopted princess nodded to the British girl before returning to the fight.

* * *

"An indoor tornado?" Vicki exclaimed in shock of what the masked coyote had stated.

"Yep." Confirmed Tech, "Exactly what I'd said."

"That's something that not impossible, but it's unpractical for the most part." Vicki thoughtfully stated as she recalled her lessons with her mentors.

"Unfortunate for us and good news to the Wicked Witches." Tech sighed out, feeling somewhat useless at that moment.

"Don't worry about it." The young witch patted Tech on the shoulder, "Since you're not as exposed to magic as I am, you were easy to be spirited away by any powerful magic-user either good or bad."

"Thanks." Tech managed to smile back at Vicki, "I needed to hear that."

* * *

Dorothy and Alice managed to fight off the attacking forces, and they also managed to escape with Toto and a few cuts and bruises.

"Dorothy," Alice spoke in a whisper, "I'm sorry about the way I was acting to you."

"Sorry about my behavior towards you too." Dorothy beamed a smile.

Seeing the two girls make up caused Toto to yelp in glee, however that also drew the attention of the forces, which had just passed by them, back towards the small group of three.

"Here comes round two." Dorothy announced as she, Toto and Alice readied themselves for the next part of the fight.

* * *

At the castle, the Wicked Witches were waiting for their troops to return with the now-smaller group.

"What's taking them so long?!" Demanded the fake princess, Mombi, sounding angry about being made to wait for the capture of the rest of the small group.

"I want them to hurry up as well," the green-skinned witch sighed out of annoyance at Mombi's lack of patience, "but we're not dealing with a scared little girl anymore."

The witch that captured Vicki Payne was just of annoyed as the Wicked Witch of the West, and then a dark thought formed in her mind and voiced the thought as soon as it was formed.

"Maybe we should help them out a little."

"How exactly?" The first enemy of Dorothy Gale eyed the second, who smiled darkly as she answered the question.

"Do you remember how we managed to get Vicki to this castle?"

* * *

Back in the Dark Forest, Alice, Dorothy and Toto managed to elude the forces of the two Wicked Witches, and they also managed to catch their breaths.

"Well," Alice panted out to her companions, "we've got away from them."

"Yep!" Dorothy breathed out while Toto climbed into Dororthy's arms.

The two allies and Toto manged to rest for a few moments before the wind started to kick up once again.

"Not again!" Dorothy backed away to a nearby tree, and she placed Toto back into her basket as she shouted to Alice, "Alice, grab on to something heavy!"

The British girl went to another tree and held on to it as the wind whistled with a blasting force being blasted at the two girls and the tiny dog.

Then, the winds blew and blustered at the girls, causing the whole forest to shake and rustled with a great violence of a small tornado. The creatures in the Dark Forest, whether they worked for the Wicked Witches or not, started to hide from the overly powerful winds. The Flying Monkeys and the Wheelers went to the ground to keep the winds from picking them up, and the more innocent of the forest's residents went into hiding in their homes.

The two girls and little dog were bracing themselves against the terrible gusts, using the trees as anchors. However, their strength was starting to fade, and their grip on the trees were slipping. At that point, Alice came up with an idea and shouted to Dorothy, who was at the tree next to the tree the British girl had anchored herself onto upon Dorothy's suggestion.

"Dorothy! Let go!"

"WHAT!?" It was needless to say that the adopted princess was shocked with Alice's idea, "WHY!?"

"The wind will take us to Vicki!" Alice shouted out.

"Yeah!" Dorothy argued back, "And straight to the Wicked Witches!"

"Exactly!" The British girl pointed out.

Despite of the winds that were roaring at and around her, Dorothy sighed out, realizing that Alice was telling the truth. Looking at the blond foreginer, Dorothy looked at Alice and shouted out her response.

"Let's go!"

With a nod, Alice released her grip on the tree, allowing the strange wind to pick her up into the sky. The adopted royal did the same, knowing that she was going into the grasps of the Wicked Witch of the West and the fake princess, Mombi, within a few moments.

* * *

In the dungeon, Vicki had returned to her cell, while Tech waited for anyone for any news. It was silent for a few minutes before Tech asked a question that was festering in his mind since the occurance happened.

"Vicki, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Vicki asked back, curious about what the canine was going ask.

"Is there a spell to free people from magical restraints?"

"Huh?"

"I'll show ya what I'm talking about."

Tech went to the work bench and pulled out the collar that the Wicked Witches had used to control and punish him.

"This collar was used by the Witches to control me," Tech explained to Vicki, "but just before I saw you, this fell off of my neck, like a broken necklace."

"Really?" Vicki was confused about the case that was presented before her.

"Do you have any ideas of how this happened?" Tech's curiosity was evident to Vicki, who started to ponder about it.

Vicki thought for a few moments before recalled the AURYN. With a sharp exclaim, the young witch pulled out the AURYN and explained herself and her theory.

"The AURYN can grant any wish, and I'm only allowed to make a wish in dire emergencies. I must have made a wish when I was knocked out by one of the witches."

"Which one?" Tech asked, feeling his fury rising again.

"She looked tired and easily annoyed." Vicki thoughtfully tried to recall, but Tech made himself clear in his words.

"Did she have green skin?"

"No, I remember that." Vicki answered, rubbing her head for the memory itself.

"Then, you were attacked by Mombi." The coyote spoke up, knowing that the hag was not above at attacking anyone, including young children.

"Mombi?" Vicki was confused at the moment, "Isn't she the witch that liked to take the heads off of young women and claim them as her own?"

"I don't know." Tech shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I'm right." Vicki shook her head, "I'm still feeling the limp on my head when she sent me into a wall."

"Ouch!" Tech flinched at the thought of Vicki getting hurt.

"No kidding." The young witch continued to rub the back of her head to ease the phantom pain.

Then, a cackle of triumph was heard by the two Wicked Witches echoed throughout the castle, including the dungeon. Vicki was shocked to hear this.

"What was that!"

Tech's face was grim when he answered the question.

"I think Dorothy's finally here."


	10. Chapter 10

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Ten

As the two girls were being dragged towards the dungeon, Alice noticed that the flying monkeys were not pulling as hard as they could. Turning to Dorothy, Alice asked her a question.

"What's the matter with them?" Alice used her head to direct her meaning to Dorothy, since both girls were tied behind their backs.

"Well," Dorothy sighed out in pity, "they're only doing this because they're being forced to; with the Witches controlling them, they're doing everything the Witches wants them to do."

"That makes sense." Alice looked at the monkeys with pity.

Then, the flying monkeys reached the dungoen and unlocked the door, unknowingly altering Tech and Vicki that someone was coming. Vicki was grateful that she had enough sense to return to her cell by Tech's suggestion. Tech quickly started to 'work' on the machine.

Once the flying monkeys and their prisoners entered the dungeon, Tech and Vicki knew who the captives were right away, but they kept quiet until the captives were placed into a cell seperate from Vicki and the monkeys exited the underground part of the Witches' castle.

Once the door to the dungeon was close with a loud bang, everyone started to talk to each other.

"Vicki!" Alice exclaimed in happiness, "Are you unharmed?"

"I'm fine." The dark-skinned witch smiled as she exited from her unlocked cell.

"You're out!" Dorothy was surprised about Vicki being able to exit her cell.

"And soon enough, so will you two." Vicki announced as she showed her lockpick to the two girls.

As she started picking the lock, she noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Toto and his basket?"

Alice and Dorothy looked at each other, sharing a worried expression with each other. Understanding what could be the matter with the girl, Tech stepped forward and asked, "Do the Witches have Toto?"

"Yeah..." Dorothy looked more worried about the little dog, and everyone saw this.

"You and Toto must be pretty close." Tech guessed, and Dorothy responded with a sob in her voice, "Ever since my sixth birthday."

"We'll help you get him back from those horrid witches!" Alice announced in an attempt at comforting the Adopted Princess of the Land of Oz.

"Thank you, Alice." Dorothy pulled out a bandana and blew her nose into it.

"We've got another rescue mission, girls." Vicki pointed out to the group, but Tech became a little annoyed and coughed a little to get Vicki's attention. The witch realized what she did wrong and corrected herself, "And you too, Tech."

"That's better." The human-like canine spoke with an aire of vanishing irritation.

"But we've got to be careful!" Alice pointed out as well, "Now that they've got Toto, they're going to do something horrid to him, if we tried something aganist them."

"That's not good." Tech verbally thought out loud as Vicki finished picking the lock, freeing Dorothy and Alice.

"Thanks again, Vicki." Dorothy nodded to the young witch.

"Thank you, Vicki." Alice said as she tried to wrestle the restraints that were on her wrists.

Tech noticed this, went to Alice and started to untie the ropes on the British girl's wrists.

Vicki saw this and quickly went to Dorothy's wrists, and she started to untie the princess's wrists.

"Thanks, Vicki." Dorothy said as she rubbed her wrists, since the ropes dug into her skin.

"Not a problem." The good witch smiled at the farmgirl as she saw Tech freeing Alice from her restraints.

"Thank you." Alice showed her gratitude as she realized that she did not know the canine's name.

With a chuckle, the coyote said upon seeing the look on the British girl's face, "My name is Tech E. Coyote."

"Coyote!?" Dorothy expressed a leery look towards the masked canine.

"Hey!" Tech was quick to defend himself, "I don't eat or steal from humans."

"You better not!" Dorothy nearly growled at the hero of Planet Blanc, who was confused about the young girl's strange reaction to him.

"Dorothy, you can trust Tech." Vicki stepped inbetween Dorothy and Tech, and she faced Dorothy, "So, please calm yourself down before doing anything else."

"All right." Dorothy agreed after a long moment of a tense silence.

"Now that's settled," Vicki sighed out of relief after the tense moment between Dorothy and Tech, "we've got to work a gameplan to stop the Wicked Witches and to get Toto and the Land of Oz away from their grabby fingers."

"Right!" Alice nodded, knowing that the Wicked Witches would try to show off their weapon now that Dorothy was their prisoner.

Tech, although he was still feeling the tense glare from Dorothy Gale, spoked to the adopted princess, asking, "Do you have any clue about where the Witches might be at?"

"I'll need some time to think about it." The brunette farmgirl spoke while still having no strong trust in the coyote, "I was seven years old when I was here last time."

"Seven years old!?" Tech was taken aback by the shock from hearing that statement from the foreign farmer, "They're trying to kill you for something that happened when you were just a kid!?"

"It doesn't matter to them." Sighed a distrssed Dorothy, "I was tryin' to save a friend, when I splashed a bucket of water of the Wicked Witch of the West. As for Mombi, I escaped her tower, since she wanted my head when I was grown up, and because of my victory over the Gnome King, Mombi lost all of her powers and was sent to the dungeon in the Emerald City. Despite that they're in the wrong in most areas, I'm the target of their collective fury, because they thought of me as a threat and not a simple girl of Kansas."

"That's awful!" Tech exclaimed, feeling sorry for the girl that was the enemy of the Wicked Witches.

"Don't worry about it." Dorothy dismissed the statement, "This mess is comin' to the end, and I'm plannin' on seein' the end of this whole mess."

"Count on me to help end it." Vicki pointed to herself with her thumb.

Alice nodded with the young witch, saying, "So, will I."

"Same here." Tech joined in before adding, "Besides, I've got a few things that I've got to say to them before you stop them."

Feeling emotional since the whole mess with the Wicked Witches began, Dorothy's eyes started to fill with tears, but she quickly wiped her eyes to rid herself of the watery product of her emotion.

"Thank you, everyone." Dorothy finally spoke, earning a small giggle from Vicki and Alice.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toto was trapped in a small cage and in the same room of the two Wicked Witches, who were readying themselves and the area when they 'show' Dorothy Gale the capabilities of their machine.

"I cannot wait for when the machine finally blocks out the daylight in all of the Land of Oz!" Mombi wickedly cackled at the thought she was sharing with her ally, who cackled just as darkly, "And with that pretty little girl unable to do anything, our revenge will be complete!"

"After we kill her!" Mombi pointed out to the green-skinned witch.

"Right!" The Wicked Witch of the West stated while maintaining her evil glee about the situation.

Vicki checked the door to see if there were any guards outside, and when she saw no one out there, she turned to her friends and said, "No one's out there."

"That's good to hear." Dorothy sighed, "However, we should be careful; just because they've caught us doesn't mean that they won't let their guards down."

"That's a very good point." Alice agreed with Dorothy Gale, recalling her times in Underland with her friends.

"Let's take our time about getting to the Witches and Toto." Tech suggested, which was meant with a strong agreement with the girls.

As the four allies carefully exited the dungeon, Vicki, Dorothy, Alice and Tech looked around for any guards, and when they found any, Vicki would freeze them in place.

"I'm really grateful that you've got that power, Vicki!" Dorothy whisper in glee after the first few guards were frozen.

"The same can be said about how I feel." Alice whisped to the ear of the younger witch.

Tech's only statement was: "Just remind me of her temper every now and again."

That caused the girls to giggle quite a bit, but the laughter ended when they found themselves in front of the room that the Witches were inside of, and that scared Dorothy more than anybody else in the group.

"Oh, boy..." Dorothy gulped loudly upon hearing the Witches' scheming.

"You can say that again." Tech gulped with the farmgirl, since his hearing was stronger than the human girls' ears.

The group of four peeked into the room, where the Witches were at, and they also heard their scheme unfold.

"So, what are we going to do after we start up the machine?" Mombi asked the green-skinned hag, who answered, "Vexed that brat!"

"I meant after we torture and kill that girl!"

The Wicked Witch of the West thought for a moment before she gave her dark reply to Mombi.

"We kill either Tech or that little witch."

"What about that girl we've caught along with that little plan-destorying brat?" The tone in Mombi's voice was dripping with desire.

"You can do whatever you want with her; she's got no holding interest to me." The hag waved a dismissive hand to Mombi, who started to grin even darker than her own clothing.

"Then, I'll take her head, and right in front of Dorothy's face too!"

The chuckling from Mombi shook Dorothy and Alice to the core, but what following the cruel laughter really scared everyone in the small group.

"But what about the little witch, Vicki?" Mombi was sounding concerned about the younger witch.

"As long as Dorothy Gale is the last to die, I don't really care!" The Wicked Witch of the West hissed out at the other hag.

"You just want to see her suffer, don't you?" Mombi cackled at the thought of Dorothy being in so much despair that she would beg for death.

"Of course!" The Wicked Witch of the West hissed out at the other Witch, "First, she killed my sister, and then she killed me! I want her to suffer like I've suffered."

Mombi backed from green-skinned magic-user in sincere awe, and she was not only one that was feeling that way. Dorothy, having no idea of the pain that the Western Witch had felt, could not help herself from crying.

"Dorothy," Vicki went to the farmgirl's side while trying to make sure that the Witches could not hear them, "it's okay; it was an accident, and you were seven years old."

"I know," Dorothy replied in a whisper, "but I still feel bad about it."

Alice, then, hugged the farmgirl in an attempt to calming her, quietly saying, "I don't know what to say in this moment, but I know that you're not guilty about killing them."

"Espeically since she was trying to kill you and your friends." Tech, still angry about being prisoner, muttered sharply.

"First," Vicki quietly announced to the group, "let's get Toto out of there."

"And quick!" Dorothy stressed the importance of the rescue of the small dog, "Toto's got the last Power Emerald, and if they take it from Toto, he could..."

Dorothy's tears filled up her eyes and overflowed again, causing Vicki to see that Dorothy was not exaggrating about the age of the little dog.

"Let me try something." Vicki whispered as she opened the door wide enough to see Toto, and she had to do it without allowing the Wicked Witches from seeing her or her allies.

Once she saw the caged canine in her sights, Vicki tried to orb the dog from the cage. Sadly, all she did was cause the cage to rattle, causing the group, mostly Dorothy to became fearful about Toto's fate.

"Stop squriming!" The Witch with green-skin hissed before turning her attention back to Mombi.

Seeing that the Witches had failed to realize that the rattling was the result of a failed attempt by Vicki, the younger witch tried to rescue the little dog, but this time, Vicki was going to orb the whole cage to her.

"Be careful, Vicki." Dorothy warned quietly, and Tech voiced in after the farmgirl.

"She's right; you were just in a holding cell that could block out your magic."

"I'll be careful." Vicki tried orbing once again.

However, she was about as successful as the first time, causing the young witch to nearly use a curse word.

"What now?" Dorothy asked as the worry in the adopted princess's voice started to become more evident to everyone in the group.

Alice hushed the farmgirl by placing her finger to her lips before turning to Vicki and asking, "Maybe a frontal assault?"

"While they won't expecting that," Tech interjected his thoughts about Alice's plan, "but that could get Toto harmed."

"Isn't there a way to stop them or freeze them in place?" Dorothy asked, unintentionally giving Vicki a good idea.

"I forgot that I've got the power to freeze power in the molcular level!"

"I forgot too!" Tech laughed at himself under his breath.

Vicki looked at the two Witches and waved her hand at them. The wicked hags were hit with the spell, but they only looked like they were only slowing down.

"Go get Toto, while they can't move much!" Vicki told Dorothy while trying to maintain her freezing hold on the two Witches.

"Right!" Dorothy nodded as she ran into the room and grabbed the cage that held the little dog.

While Dorothy went to rescue Toto, Tech went into the room with the collar that was used in controlling and punishing him and placed it on the wrist of Mombi.

"What are you doing?" Dorothy asked as she reached the door and the rest of the group.

"Just giving her her just desserts!" Tech quietly chuckled as he finished tying the collar and followed Dorothy out of the room.

Given the situation, Vicki made sure that the Witches were slowed down enough to keep them from seeing Tech and Dorothy. Once the both of them were out of the room, Vicki unfreezed the Witches.

"Let's going while the going's good!" Tech suggested with great haste, which all of the others made no arguement.

After Vicki 'freed' the Witches, the group retreated back to the dungeon as quickly and as quietly as they could. As they passed each frozen guard, Vicki 'freed' them after the small group passed by them.

As soon as they reached the dungeon, the group went to their respective places, while Toto, who was no longer in the cage, was told by Dorothy to stay still and hiding.

"So, we're waiting for the untimely arrival of the Wicked Witches." Dorothy stated bluntly.

"Pretty much." Tech shrugged his shoulders towards the adopted princess.

After a few tense mintues of silence, the two Witches entered the room, and the both of them were feeling victorious about capturing the small group. Upon entering the room, they started to inform the prisoners, mostly Dorothy, about their plan.

"So, Dorothy," hissed the green-skinned hag looked at Dorothy with a nasty smile, "I finally get back at you for what you've done to my sister!"

"And getting me out of favor and power!" Mombi added, sounding just as outraged as the Wicked of the West.

"You're a backstabbing traitor!" Dorothy barked at Mombi, who was angry when the farmgirl snapped at her.

"What do you mean?" The green-skinned Witch asked Dorothy, who was more than willing to say what she meant.

"Mombi was working with the Gnome King to destory all of Oz, regardless of whomever lived there, and all she wanted was a bunch of heads to replace her ugly face!"

"I'll teach you about what happens when you spread lies!" Mombi threatened Dorothy.

"Like the lies you told me when I was seven?" Dorothy was unfazed by the Witch's threat, "Or maybe like the ones you told Princess Ozma?"

"You're a liar!" Mombi screeched at Dorothy, and the farmgirl said, "Funny, I didn't see you in the mirror this morning."

With a dark fury in her eyes, Mombi flew a spell at Dorothy, and the Wicked Witch of the West tried to stop her.

"Don't cast that spell!"

It was too late; Mombi casted the spell, and it hit the bars of the cell. As the magic hit the cell, the spell bounced off the bars and flew straight back at Mombi, who ducked and was angry at Dorothy's attempt at tricking her.

"How about I fry your witchling friend's beloved because of your mouth?" Mombi announced before she used her magic in an attempt at killing Tech.

However, she had failed to notice that Tech's collar was on her wrist, and when she did that, the fake princess was sent flying back into the other side of the dungeon. Mombi would have been dead, if the Power Emerald that was around her neck did not protect her.

The Wicked Witch of the West was quick and went the Darkness Machine and grabbed the lever. Then, she glared at Dorothy and shouted at her.

"First, I'll drown the whole of Oz into eternal darkness, and then I'll pick off your friends one-by-one before I kill you!"

Then, she pull the lever, causing the Darkness Machine to start up with life. Dorothy revealed that she was able to free herself upon the Western Witch activated the awful machine.

"Please, stop this!" Dorothy gave a futile plea for the green-skinned Witch to stop the horrible plan.

"NEVER!" The horrid woman shouted in her time of triumph as the machine's function was about to start.

"Dorothy!" Tech grabbed her by the arm, "Get back into the cell!"

"Why?" Dorothy asked as the coyote dragged her into the cage.

"Because what's about to happen isn't going to be pretty to anyone that's close enough to the blast!" Tech pulled Dorothy into the cage and closed it behind him.

As the machine finally started to function, the Wicked Witch of the West realized that there was something added into the Darkness Machine.

"OH, NO!" The green hag screeched as she tried to stop the machine.

"It's too late, you ugly old hags!" Tech pointed a final jab at the Witches as the machine started to radiate a glow, which grew brighter by the second. Then, Tech shouted to his allies and his girlfriend, "Girls, cover your eyes!"

"Come here, Toto!" Dorothy shouted to the small dog, who went to the farmgirl's arms, and she was quick to cover the small dog's eyes.

As the light became so bright that someone would need to cover and/or protect their eyes, the Western Witch was frantic about trying to stop the machine from emitting the light from the crystal that Tech and Vicki managed to put into the machine.

"Stop! I command it! I demand it! STOOOOOP!"

As the light shallowed the Wicked Witch of the West, Mombi recovered from her daze to see the Western Witch become engulfed by the shroud of light.

"No, no, NO!"

The last things that was heard by anyone in the magic-blocking cells were the screams of the Witches as the light engulfed the dungeon and spread out throughout the castle. No one was spared from being hit by the light as it engulfed the castle and the Dark Forest.

* * *

At the Emerald City, Howl was in an argument with Oz and the Scarecrow, and the argument had started when Howl found out that he was not powerful enough to chase after Vicki.

"Don't you realize that she's gone after a guy that she's barely met!" Howl tried to defend his reasoning, but the acting rulers of the Emerald City and the Land of Oz were quick to rebuff the statement.

"I'm sorry, Howl," Oz was trying to talk some sense into the powerful wizard, "but I'm under strict orders not to let anyone out of the capital unless it's an emergency or the Witches were subdued."

Then, a roaring cry of horror rang out, causing the arguement to stop. The three turned their attention to the panicked form of the Cowardly Lion, who was racing into the room.

"What's wrong?" The Scarecrow expressed his concerns of his good friend.

"There's a strange light coming from the West!" The Lion shouted out due to being frightened by the strange occurance.

Hearing the news caused the three males to exit the room and went to the balcony, where many others were also looking at the unusual occurance. Of all those that were there, Howl was shocked to see a fellow magic-user there.

"Miss Irene!" Howl exclaimed upon seeing the member of the Witches' Council, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to investigate Vicki's progress with the Wicked Witches and to confront you about turning Beatrix into a statue." The white-claded witch glared at the wizard.

"Isn't she back to normal yet?" Howl asked, showing sincere concern about the witch that he had hexed.

"If she wasn't, I wouldn't be talking to you so calmly."

Howl gulped, since he realized that he was going to be in a lot of trouble with the Witches' Council for slowing down Beatrix long enough to try to stop Vicki from confronting the Wicked Witches. However, he hoped that with his reasoning that he would be given a light punishment for his actions, especially since Beatrix was not permanently turned into a stone statue.

As the light was sent throughout the Land of Oz, everyone in the North, South, West and East saw the strange light that reached at all of the corners of the land. Even the Witches' Council saw what was happening with the use of a giant looking glass that used only by members of the council.

"What is happening?" One of the Witches' Council asked the head of the group.

"I don't honestly know the answer," the leader of the group replied, sounding unsure, "but I believe that Vicki managed to complete her mission."

"Good." Another member huffed up upon hearing the Head Witch's answer, "Just think what would have happened if Howl had messed up for the rest of the known universe!"

Following that statement, a group of mumurs came from all that were there. There was none that disagreed with the statement.


	11. Chapter 11

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Eleven

As the light, which had radiated for a few minutes, started to faded, a group of uniformed animals exited from a portal and were followed by a woman with blond hair and a purple outfit. This was Tech's friends, the Loonatics, and his boss, Zadavia, and all of them were there in the Land of Oz to search and rescue Tech.

"So, dis is where Tech's at?" Ace, a rabbit in a black and yellow uniform, asked the boss and ally of the team.

"Yes." Zadivia nodded to the leader of the Loonatics.

"We would have been here to rescue Tech, if Duck hadn't his feathers in a pillow about some boots and a cape that he'd lost in a bet a couple of years ago." Lexi sharply stated as she glared at the mention member of the team.

"Hey, I'm here!" Danger Duck was offended by how Lexi was talking about him, and then he bluntly added, "I saved him from Black Velvet, so he'd owed me!"

"Whatever!" The other members of the group groand upon hearing Duck's excuse from stealing the lab coat and the clue in finding help in rescuing the kidnapped coyote.

Duck did not appriciate being dismissed in such a manner, even though it was his choose that both lost him the bet and lost time in saving Tech.

Then, Rev, a roadrunner, voluteered himself to go ahead to check out the area and the lair of Tech's captors in his usually fast-talking manner.

"I'll-go!-After-all-he's-our-good-friend,-and-if-anything-should-happen-to-him,-things-wouldn't-be-for-us,-and-things-wouldn't-be-good-for-him!-I-mean-"

"Get going!" Duck shouted, doing the only bit of team effort he had put into since the whole event started.

"Sorry!" Rev realized that he was supposed to be looking for Tech, "I'm-going!-I'm-going!"

Then, the roadrunner dashed into the Dark Forest, searching for his friend, comrad, fellow inventor and teammate.

* * *

Meanwhile in the castle of the Wicked Witches, all those in the dungeon could feel the light's powerful radiance touching them, and yet they were unharmed by the light that beamed out of the Darkness Machine. After many minutes of light and silence, the machine started to shut down, much to Tech's and Vicki's relief.

"The machine's going down." Tech sighed out, and Dorothy said, "I hope that includes the light!"

"Same goes for me!" Alice called out to anyone that could hear her.

Soon enough, the light faded back into the machine, allowing everyone to see without the concern of losing their eyesight. However, they were seeing spots, despite that they had shielded their eyes.

"Whoa!" The farmgirl explained as her eyes started to adjust the currently dim dungeon.

"You can say that again!" Vicki rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the spots in her view, "Ow..."

Once their eyes stopped seeing spots, the small group of allies saw a strange, human-shaped stain on the wall. Dorothy was the first to ask about it.

"Isn't that where Mombi was at?"

"That's right." Tech confrimed the farmgirl's assumption, "It looks like Mombi's shadow was burned into the wall by the overly-powered light, although the Power Emerald surivied the light."

"Her shadow!?" Alice joined Dorothy in exclaimed in pure shock upon hearing the coyote's theory of the burnt-in shadow.

After thinking for a few moments, Vicki said bluntly, "That makes sense."

Then, the young witch noticed a form on the floor, laying next to the Darkness Machine, and that caused her to ask, "Who's that?"

"I don't know." Tech answered Vicki, "I've not seen her before."

Then, the three foreginers looked at Dorothy, who felt the pressure on her, and that caused her to say, "I don't know everyone in the Land of Oz!"

"By the look of her clothes," Alice stated with a thoughtful tone, "it wouldn't surprise anyone that she could be part of a court."

"Well, she's not a part of Ozma's court." Dorothy stated to the group.

"Then, whose?" Vicki asked the farmgirl-turned-princess, who replied with a confused tone in her voice, "Whose indeed."

As the group talked about the being, the mentioned being started to stir, feeling very odd and ill. She started to push herself from the ground, but she felt so weak that she grabbed the bench that was next to her, letting out an attention-grabbing grunt.

The small group looked at the female that was trying to pull herself from the floor. Dorothy was the first one to take action by going to her and offering a helping hand.

"Do you need some help, ma'am?"

The being was startled by the offer and took a look at the farmgirl. Upon seeing the other female, the strange female backed after from Dorothy, like the farmgirl was a carrier of a deadly ailment, and Dorothy was confused about the situation.

"Hey, my clothes aren't that bad!" Dorothy's attempt at joking was not well-received by her allies and only confused the stranger.

"Why are you?" The woman looked at Dorothy with a confusion on her face, and then she looked at her hands. She looked at the adopted princess and asked her, "Do you have a mirror?"

"No..." Dorothy shook her head, unsure about the strange woman's reaction to her answer.

"Do any of you have a mirror?" The woman's attention was turned to the others, who all shook their heads and said in unison, "No..."

Without any answers from the group of five, the odd woman made her way out of the dungeon, stumbling as she ran and causing concern to be aroused among the group.

"We'd better get after her!" Vicki announced as she started to follow her, and none of the others attempted to argue against the idea.

Making sure that the strange woman was within their sight and not harming herself, Vicki, Tech, Alice, Dorothy and Toto followed the confused woman as she reached a room and entered it. The group of five entered the room right after her.

The small group were surprised that they found themselves in a bedroom, which was decorated in strange markings and red letters that in a strange language, and the woman was standing in front of a shattered mirror in awe of her reflection. None of the group knew what was wrong with the woman.

She looked very youthful in her red and black dress and her white pearl necklace. Her dark hair, although it was a little messy, was done in a bun. Her skin was pale, but it was nearly flawless, since there were a paler line-like markings from her eyes to her cheeks.

After a moment of silence, Dorothy was the first to speak to the well-dressed, yet mildly messy-looking, woman by asking, "Are you all right?"

"I... I don't know." The woman answered the question.

Another moment of silence passed between the woman and the group, and then the woman asked Dorothy a very strange question.

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't recall ever meetin' you before now." Dorothy's confusion was greater than her fear of the woman.

The odd woman, then, said something that really confused the adopted princess to the point of her no longer wanting to asking any more questions.

"I'm the Wicked Witch of the West!"

"That makes no sense!" Alice was just as confused as Dorothy, "She had green skin and warts!"

Tech was confused as the girls, but he did ask Vicki about the possible transformation of the 'witch.'

"Vicki, is there a possible chance that she's really the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"It's possible." A thoughful tone was in the young witch's voice as she answered Tech's question, "These kinds of transformations are not all that uncommon, however a reversal transformation is even rarer."

"A reversal transformation?" Dorothy and the strange woman asked in unison.

"Yes." Confirmed Vicki as she remused speaking, "It's just trickier than the normal transformations, and it's usually after a condition was met.

"That makes sense." Tech took in the information from Vicki very well.

"Of course!" The odd woman exclaimed at her own forgetfulness, "It's been while since I've studied such things."

Then, the woman fell silent, looking very guilty as she looked away from the group, who became concerned about the woman.

"Are you well?" Alice stepped towards the woman, who stepped away from the British teenager.

"You're acting like we're goin' to hang you from the tallest tree in the whole Land of the Oz." Dorothy stated, trying to make light of a not-so-bad situation.

"But I'm- I _was_ the Wicked Witch of the West." The woman stated loudly, "I did horrible things to you and anyone that enraged me! You, your friends, all of Oz, Oscar..."

"Was she the real you?" Dorothy asked the odd witch, who looked and was confused by the adopted princess's choose of words.

"I... I don't know." The better-dressed witch said, sounding unsure in her own words.

"Well," Dorothy continued to speak, "I don't think she was the real you; just a version of you if you were truly evil, and I don't think you're a _real_ Wicked Witch."

"But I still did horrible things to other people; how can anyone trust me again?" The odd woman looked away from the others.

"Show them that you've truly changed." Vicki stepped towards the reformed witch, "It takes time, but people will warm up to you, once they see that you're a good witch."

With a shocked look on her face, the strange woman looked at Vicki and asked her, "Are you sure?"

"Although what I've done was minor in comprasion to your actions, I've gone through a lot of jabs and taunts from my fellow witches, and the fact that my family's got a few rotton apples hanging from the tree didn't help me at all. However, with time and support from those that believed in me, I've gained back the respect of those that taunted and gossiped about me, despite that tongues like to flap."

A shy smile graced the formed Wicked Witch's now-pale skin as she said, "I can only try."

"Naturally." Alice bluntly stated, but she and the others noticed that the odd witch's smile faded as she asked, "But what if I fail?"

"Then, try again." Tech spoke up to the ex-hag, "I try and fail many times before I get it right, but if you give up just because others can't see the good and only the bad things of your past, that's when you've really failed."

"How can you know that?" The strange witch inquiried to the coyote. The response that was given to her was truly unexpected on her part.

"Regradless of you are or were," Vicki spoke after Tech, "trying is the only thing that can produce any results, good or bad."

The former hag looked at her new allies and smiled, saying, "If you all are willing to assist me, I think I'll have a chance."

"You've got to help yourself too." Dorothy sharply stated, "After all, it's really gonna take a lot of effort on your part, Miss..." Dorothy, at that point realized that she never learned the odd woman's name, causing her to ask, "Your name? Sorry about not askin' for it earlier."

"That's all right." The better-dressed witch laughed a little before introducing herself as, "Theodora."

* * *

While in the Dark Forest, the Loonatics had to stop their search for Tech because one of them had managed to injure himself.

"How was I supposed to know that tree was in front of me?" Rev nursed his aching head, which was from running into a tree in super-high speed along with the slowed rate of speech.

"How did you fail to realize that running into an area that was overflowing with light was a bad idea?" Duck asked the bruised roadrunner, who threw a dirty look at the self-rightous water fowl before admitting defeat to Danger Duck, and that was a surprise for everyone that heard it.

"You're right."

"That was unexpected." Lexi bluntly stated, still stunned by both the roadrunner's admitting that Duck was right and the fact that Duck was right.

The others agreed with the lone female of the team without a word, because they were all stunned by the strange event that had unfolded in front of them. Thankfully, Ace was able to recompose himself to regroup the team.

"Come on, guys!" The male rabbit announced to the others as he helped Rev to his feet, "Tech's in trouble, and we're clowning around with Duck and his problems!"

"Hey!" The mallard exclaimed in annoyance, but his words fallen on deaf ears as the four other members and their boss continued into the deeper part of the forest. Seeing that he was being ignored, Duck marched on, muttering crude comments about Tech and how he would managed to get attention by being captured by insane indiviuals.

Once Duck had finished his comments about Tech, Lexi called back to Duck, saying, "I'm making sure that Tech hears everything you've just said, Duck!"

Hearing this, Duck rushed to the female bunny and started begging her not to say a word of what he had said about Tech, and that caused the rest of the team and the boss to snicker at the begging drake as well as a couple of whispered comments.

"Think-that-Lexi-would-rat-out-Duck?" Rev asked Ace, who replied, "Unless Duck manages to make some kinda deal with Lexi, my money's on her telling on him."

Rev covered his beak to cover his smile and muffle his laughter. Slam, who was normally on Duck's side, could not help himself from laughing at the drake's misfortune, but he did try to cover his amused face from his friend whenever the duck looked at him.

"You'll get yours..." Duck growled as he heard the laughter that was coming from the rest of the team.

Soon enough, the Loonatics reached the castle that belonged to the Wicked Witches. Nearing the place, Duck's ability to make comments made itself useful.

"I wonder who's the gardener, 'cause it looks like he needs a career change."

"No kidding!" Lexi with Duck, while Slam just nodded his head in agreement.

Ace, who wasted no time, told Lexi, "Hey, use your ears to pick up any noises in there."

Lexi used her super-hearing to listen to the inside of the strange estate. Everyone was quiet for a few moments before it was broken by Duck, who was easily bored.

"Com'on!"

The group quickly and harshly hushed the big-beaked bird, who fell silent with a look of annoyance on his face.

"I hear something!" The she-rabbit announced, causing everyone to forget about Duck and turn their attentions to the pink and black rabbit.

"Is it Tech?" Rev asked, since he was good friends with the coyote.

"I hear him," Lexi stated as she continued to listen, "as well as a few girls' voices."

Duck laughed through his beak before saying, "I wonder if the girl that sent Tech the lab coat would like hear about this."

Lexi, who knew about Tech's long-distance relationship, knew that Duck was deeply mistaken, since she could hear the voice of the girl that Tech had been talking to for the past few months. However, she was not going to say anything about that yet.

"Let's go in!" Rev announced, and Slam shouted in agreement.

"Give me a minute." Lexi said, and a few seconds later, she said, "I don't hear anything that sounds like an enemy."

"Then, let's go!" Ace shouted, and the team entered the castle.

Upon entering the castle, the Loonatics searched the castle as best as one team of superheroes could. However, it was Lexi that found Tech.

Lexi, using her super-hearing, followed the sound of the coyote's voice, and when she reached the door to the dungeon, Lexi was about to open the door, and the door was opened by Tech.

"Tech!" Lexi exclaimed in relief, and Tech, who was not expecting any of his teammates in the Land of Oz, asked, "What are you doing here!?"

"We came to rescue you; you're our friend and teammate." Lexi poked the coyote in the chest as she spoke to him.

"The whole team's here!" Tech was shocked in a pleased manner.

"Yeah!" Lexi shrugged her shoulders, "We would have been here earlier, but Duck took your lab coat, thinking that he was entitled to it."

"The Black Velvet mess..." Tech groaned in disbelief; after all that time, Duck was still angry about losing the bet.

"I know." Lexi rolled her green eyes at what she had said, "He wonders why that he's not the most popular member of the team."

"No kidding." Tech chuckled as he recalled the times that the orange-claded member of the team would complain about his low popularity.

"Tech," a voice echoed from behind the coyote, "who's that?"

Lexi saw an African-American woman in her twenties appear from the dungeon that the coyote had remerged from, looking a little dirty and disheveled. However, Lexi knew right away who the young woman was by the sound of her voice.

"You must be Vicki." Lexi extented a friendly hand to the young witch, "I'm Lexi, one of Tech's teammates."

Vicki, sensing no hostility from the rabbit-girl, took the offered hand and shook it, saying, "Nice to meet you, Lexi."

"Hey,-guys!" Rev's voice echoed throughout the castle, "Lexi's-found-Tech!"

That caused the rest of the Loonatics to regather at the door of the dungeon. Once there, the team and Zadavia were trying to figure out how he managed to escape.

"Well, it was Vicki, who was the one that helped me; she had the key that helped with the escape." Tech blushed as he looked at Vicki, who smiled back at the genius.

"Wait just a minute!" Duck broke up the look that Tech and Vicki with his loud voice, "How do we know that she's not the one that kidnap Tech in the first place?"

The team fell silent for a moment, but Zadavia was able to answer the orange mallard's question.

"Well, she's a young witch, but she's been under the great care of the Witches' Council, who make sure that all of their charges and wards are not causing trouble while making sure that no one is trying to control them."

"How did you that?" Ace asked the blond human-like woman, who smiled as she said, "Let's say that this isn't the first time that I've dealt with magical communities."

Everyone was surprised to hear the statement, but Duck was the one with his jaw on the floor. However, another voice echoed out of the dungeon, grabbing everyone's attentions.

Out of the dungeon, Dorothy, Toto, Alice and Theodora entered the team's sights, and that caused Duck to try to blame one of them for the kidnapping of Tech. This time, Duck was not far off in his accusation.

"Well," Theodora looked sheepishly at the Loonatics as she spoke, "he's not mistaken about me."

"What makes you say that?" Ace asked the red-claded witch, who answered, "I'll explain it once the Power Emeralds are returned to the Emerald City."

Duck heard 'Emeralds' and asked, "How many of the Emeralds are there, and how can we help you?"

The rest of the team heard the statement, and there was a collective roll of the eyes. They knew that Duck wanted some of the Emeralds as a reward.

"Thank you for the offer." Dorothy spoke to Duck, who looked confused about the girl, "However, I've got the returnin' the Power Emeralds covered."

"How?" Duck laughed at Dorothy, who threw a dirty look at the mallard, "You've got some dust that could make anything fly?"

As Duck continued to laugh at the young girl, the young witch and the British girl were giggling themselves, since they remembered how Dorothy managed to get them out of the Emerald City and to the Dark Forest.

"Nope." Dorothy shook her head as she looked at her allies and asked them, "Are you ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah!" The girls giggled as they answered.

The adopted princess looked at the Ruby Slippers and clicked them three times as she said, "I wish that all of here and the Power Emeralds were in the Emerald City."

Duck was still laughing at Dorothy, but he was laughing even harder upon hearing the girl's wish. Hovever, he stopped laughing when the wind picked up and blew around him and the others.

"What's going on?" Duck managed to eked out of his beak as he recovered from his shock.

"I think we're going to the Emerald City." Ace answered before everyong in the castle disappeared along with the Power Emeralds.


	12. Chapter 12

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Twelve

Upon arriving at the Emerald City, the group of twelve were greeted by the guards, who were beyond elated to see Princess Dorothy safe and sound, and the huge group were led to one of the drawing rooms. In there, they wanted for the Scarecrow and Oscar to speak to them. However, the first person to see them was not who they had expected.

Dorothy was the first to take action, when she heard some knocking on the drawing room's door.

"Who could that be?" Tech asked as the adopted princess, who made her way to the door as she answered.

"I don't know, but I'll get it."

When Dorothy opened the door, a flash of blond and white entered the drawing room and hugged the brunette princess in a tight embrace.

"Ozma!" Dorothy exclaimed in shock, causing Toto to bark with glee. Vicki and Alice heard this and went to the sides of Dorothy and Ozma.

"You're awake!" Vicki gasped as she watched the true ruler of the land allowed Dorothy to go free.

"That means you're no longer under that blasted spell." The British girl sighed out of relief.

"Who's she?" Duck wisely asked Zadavia, who was kind enough to answer.

"She's Princess Ozma, the Ruler of the Land of Oz and the only of the royal family that wasn't gained any territory, since the royal family had been replaced for a few decades."

"How do you know that?" Duck asked, earning the annoyance of his teammates, and Lexi was the one that answered the question.

"Zadavia has connections with the Witches' Council."

"Oh, yeah!" Duck mentally kicked himself, "I forgot!"

"What a surprise!" Ace rolled his eyes at the mallard's words and forgetfulness.

The other Loonatics also refused to believe the words of Danger Duck, since he almost always put himself first.

"Who's that?" Ozma asked Dorothy in a whisper, who answered back in the same fashion, "A friend of Tech's, who is very self-absorbed."

That caused Ozma to giggle, and Vicki heard it with Alice, and that caused them to giggle a little bit themselves.

"What's so funny?" Duck asked, but none of the giggling girls answered the question.

However, Ozma spoke to the group, "There's going to be a ball in Vicki's, Alice's and Dorothy's honors, and I was wondering if you Loonatics would be interested in coming."

"Cool!" Lexi exclaimed, and Rev said in a rapid speed, since he recovered from his injuries from running into a tree.

"That-sounds-really-awesome!-We-can-learn-many-things-about-the-culture,-the-food,-and-the-technology-of-the-Land-of-Oz..."

As the roadrunner continued to talk about the many things to learn at the ball, Ace looked at his employer and asked, "You okay with this, Zadavia?"

"Of course!" Zadavia answered with an excited tone in her voice, "The parties in the Land of Oz are considered to be the best."

"But those parties had not happened since my father was the ruler of the Land of Oz." Ozma responded to hearing Zadavia's words.

"I think that you can do it." Dorothy smiled at the fay-like princess, "You'll get a lot of help with the party."

"You'll help me?" Ozma asked Dorothy, who said, "Of course, and everyone at the court would help too."

"I'm glad to hear that." The ruler of the Land of Oz sighed out of relief upon hearing the adpoted princess's confident words.

Then, both princesses and Toto left the room, talking about the party plans and leaving others in the room.

"Aw, man!" Vicki exclaimed half a minute after the princesses left the drawing room, "I wanted to ask if I could invite a couple of my friends."

"Don't worry." Tech rested a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get the chance."

"Speaking about chances..." Duck voiced out his thoughts under his breath as he looked at Vicki.

"Hey!" Ace suddenly remembered something important and turned to Lexi, asking, "Do you still have the lab coat?"

"What?" The pink and black rabbit sounded confused, "I thought you had it."

Ace was perplexed at that point until he realized something about the missing coat.

"Duck told me that you had it!"

The orange mallard gulped loudly about hearing Lexi saying, "And Duck told me that you had it!"

The two rabbits looked at the masked water fowl, shouting out, "Duck!"

Danger Duck tried to get away, but Slam grabbed him by the collar of his costume and dangled him in the air. The largest member of the Loontics asked Duck about the whereabouts of the coat that belonged to the coyote.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Duck declared in a haughty manner, however when Slam threated to shake the water fowl upside down, Duck suddenly 'remembered' where Tech's lab coat was.

"Oh! Tech's lab coat! The one I've found in the lab after he was captured... AGAIN!"

"Duck, how could you?" Lexi stated, somewhat forgetting what kind of a hero Duck was.

"I'm still owed for saving him from Black Velvet!" Duck declared sharply, and that caused Slam to drop him to the ground.

"There's better ways to go getting what you want, Duck." Tech shook his head as he walked to Duck, who was rubbing his sore tailfeathers as he rose from the floor.

"I wonder how." Duck threw a sarcastic statement at the coyote, who was pretty close to growling at the big-beaked bird.

"My coat, please." Tech asked while trying to keep his temper under control.

"I don't have it." Duck announced, but he was not believed by the group in the drawing room.

As quickly as before, Slam grabbed Duck by collar again and flipped him upside down and shook him so hard that both the lab coat and Duck fell out of the suit. Upon seeing results of his action, Slam said, "Sorry."

Theodora, Alice and Zadavia, who were not use to seeing males in their underwear, covered their eyes as a blush appeared on their faces. Lexi and Rev snickered at the sight of Duck without his uniform. Ace, Tech and Vicki just shook their heads at Duck's chooses, which lead to him being without his uniform.

"Well, this is a fine kettle of fish." Duck angrily glared at the group of people in the drawing room with him.

"Don't worry about it." Vicki waved off the complaint of the uniformless Duck, "I'm pretty good at fixing up clothes as well as designing them."

"With what?" Duck was so angry that he mocked the witch, "With a magic spell?"

"Duck, just listen to her!" Ace tried to warn Duck, and Rev added, "Granted-that-we-don't-really-know-her,-but-she's-really-nice,-and-Tech-really-likes-her!"

"Besides," Lexi pointed out, "she's a major in designing, mostly in fashion."

Quickly, Duck snapped up the inquiry, "And how do you know that bit of information?"

Tech groaned before saying, "Super-hearing, Duck."

Realizing his mistake, Duck could only say at that point, "Oops..."

"Sorry if I'm causing trouble." Vicki whisper into Tech's ear as soon as Duck was finally quiet.

"Don't worry about it." Tech laughed, "At least, he'd be busy getting both of his feet out of his mouth while you fix up his costume."

"No kidding!" Lexi shook her head at the mess that Duck managed to himself into with his big mouth.

Then, another knock was heard at the door, and Vicki went to it and opened it. Upon opening it, Vicki was surprised at who was at the drawing room's door.

"Miss Irvine! Glinda! What are you guys doing here?"

Both the good witches entered the room and gave Vicki the answer.

"We came here around the time your mission was completed." Glinda was the first to speak, and Miss Irvine added, "And we're here to take Howl to face a few charges."

"What charges?" Vicki was concerned about her cousin's situation.

"Howl turned Beatrix into a statue." Miss Irvine explained to Vicki.

"However, the spell on Beatrix was temproary, so that could work to his advantage." Glinda added, sounding a little unsure about Howl's fate.

"Lucky him." Vicki rolled her eyes, "I think I know why Howl turned her into a statue."

"Also, the fact that he was only trying to protect you might work in his favor as well." Miss Irvine added as she looked at the Loonatics.

Glinda also saw the people that were in the room, and she gasped upon seeing a certain part of the group.

"Theodora!"

The former Wicked Witch turned away from the Good Witch of the North and rose to her feet and tried to leave the room, saying, "I must leave."

As the reformed Witch tried to exit the room, Glinda grabbed Theodora by the arm and said, "How were you changed back to yourself?"

"Actually," Tech spoke up, "I can explain the how part."

So, Tech and Vicki explained on how they rewired the Darkness Machine with a spell-cloaked crystal, which was the same one that Glinda had given the younger witch, and that caused the machine to emit light when the machine was actived. The results was evident to those that had heard the story.

"So, I theorize that since Theodora wasn't truly evil, the light's power only returned her back to her true self, and this might be a good thing on her part." Tech concluded his explaination.

"Which explains the weirdness of the whole thing." Duck muttered under his breath as he held up his pants.

"Hush!" Lexi quietly scowled at webbed-foot member of the superhero team.

"What the?!" Duck was about to ask, but he remembered that Lexi had super-hearing and silenced himself.

Theodora, who was looking very guilt-ridden, finally spoke up, "Are all of you forgetting who I was? I was the Wicked Witch Of The West, the terror of the western realm of the Land of Oz! How are you so willing to forget what I've done or tried to do?"

"Because I knew that you weren't yourself." Glinda calmly replied, but that did nothing to else Theodora's guilt.

"I was as bad as the child-hater witch, Eva Ernst!"

That statement caused a silence in the room, and that was mostly because the two white-claded witches were worried about Vicki, who became pale from the shock of the news about one of her family members.

"I n-need some air." Vicki rose from her seat and went off of the drawing room.

Tech rose up to go after Vicki, but Miss Irvine stopped him, saying, "You stay, and I'll go after her; after all, I was me that hid the truth from her."

"'Kay..." An unsure and concerned Tech sat back into his seat as Miss Irvine went out of the room.

"Did I say something wrong?" Theodora asked Glinda, who shook her head as she answered, "Not really, Theodora. Just prematurely."

* * *

Dorothy managed to get away from the party committee that Omza managed to create within a few minutes. The adopted princess thought it would be a good idea to check up on the guests and left. She was on her way to the drawing room she was in earlier, when she was bumped by a running passerby.

"Ow!" Dorothy rubbed her aching shoulder, but she saw who had ran into her, causing her to say, "What's wrong, Vicki?"

Vicki was teary-eyed, and her cheeks were wet from the crying that she had done.

"I'm all right." Vicki wiped the tears from her eyes, but more tears still formed, despite her efforts.

"No, you're not." Dorothy pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and offered it to the witch.

"Thanks." Vicki took the piece of cloth and dried her eyes.

"What happened?" Dorothy asked Vicki, who was quick to say, "Nothing. I'm fine."

"Vicki..." The brunette princess was truly concerned about the witch that was also her ally.

Then, the princess came up with an idea to get Vicki to open up to her.

"Vicki, would you accompany me to the courtyard?"

Vicki was hesitant for a moment, but she said, "Sure; I could use the fresh air."

"Same here." Dorothy nodded her head, "I'll show you the way."

"Okay." The young witch nodded and allowed the adopted princess to the courtyard, which was occupied by some of the advisors playing crochet.

"Are you sure that they won't hear us?" Vicki asked upon seeing the people, and Dorothy answered with unconcern, "Those guys are more concerned about the game and not the gossip that might come along."

"Are you sure?" The young witch asked, and the adopted princess said, "I've been comin' here for years, and I would know them like that."

"Well," Vicki sighed out before agreeing to Dorothy's words, "I'll tell what I've just learned."

Vicki told Dorothy that the former Wicked Witch of the West had stated about one of her relatives, which she had no encounters with, and she was teary-eyed by the time she had finished her short story.

"So, an aunt was an evil witch, and you didn't know until today?" Dorothy summarized what Vicki had said to her.

"That's right." Vicki looked dejected about the situation, and Dorothy saw it.

Then, the brunette princess spoke to the witch about something that was similar to Vicki's situation.

"This kinda reminds me of when my Aunt Em and Uncle Henry told me about my parents and how they died.

"Your parents?" Vicki was shocked about hearing the statement from her friend.

"Yep." Dorothy sighed out herself, "They were so worried about telling me ever since I was sent to them as a baby."

"Did they ever tell you?" Vicki's curiosity was aroused by the statement of Dorothy Gale.

"They did, but I was fourteen when they finally told me the truth about them." Dorothy's eyes started to have tears in them, "Of course, I'd learn the truth earlier, if I wasn't spirited to the Land of Oz, causin' them worry about me for days."

A silence come over the two girls, who did not speak for a couple of minutes. Then, Vicki spoke up to the farm girl.

"So, what happened to your parents?"

Vicki could tell that Dorothy was upset about answering the question, but the adopted princess managed to tell that part of the story.

"My parents were killed by an automoible that was racing down the road, and the driver was trying to meet his time in another county when I was a baby."

"Wasn't the driver punished for his crime?" Vicki wanted to know, but Dorothy shook her head and said, "No, he was from a rich family, who hushed everything up."

"What?!" Vicki didn't like what she had just heard, but Dorothy halted the young witch's possible rant, saying, "Don't worry about it."

"What makes you say that?" Vicki did not let go of her fury about hearing that someone that managed to get away with murder was allowed to remain free.

"Well," Dorothy answered the question, "he managed to hit the wrong person, who survived long enough to report it to the police, and he's been in prison ever since."

"So, he's paying for his crimes." Vicki sighed out of relief, "That's good to hear."

"I'm not complainin'." The brunette princess was happy to see the young witch was no longer upset.

"How long ago was that?" The witch asked the adopted princess, who said in response, "When I was fourteen, when he was convicted for the crime."

"Fourteen years!?" Vicki was angry once more, but Dorothy spoke again in an attempt in calming the dark-skinned witch.

"Vicki, I didn't know what the guy did, until that day that the radio station made the announement."

"Radio?" Vicki looked at Dorothy with a confused look.

"Yep. Don't you have a radio at your home?"

"Not exactly." Vicki was still perplexed by Dorothy's words, and then she asked, "Do you have a TV at your house?"

"A TV?" Dorothy was confused at that point.

Before Vicki could inquire any futher, Miss Irvine's voice rang out to her.

"Vicki! There you are!"

Although the member of the Witches' Council was happy to see the young witch, the sudden announcement about Vicki's Aunt Eva had made things seem akward between the two witches.

"I think you two need a room to talk in private," Dorothy stated as she motioned them to following her.

Both the witches made no attempt at refusing the adopted princess and followed her back into the palace.

Once Vicki and Miss Irvine were in another drawing room, Dorothy asked them, "Do you two need anything before you two starts your conversation?"

"No, thank you." The two witches replied to the princess, who said, "Okay, but if you two need something, just ring the bell, and a servant will be up here to help ya'll out."

"Thanks, Dorothy." Vicki smiled at the adpoted princess, who left the room as quietly as she could.

Once Dorothy was out of the room, Vicki wanted to ask a million questions, but she did not know if she should ask or wait for Miss Irvine to start explaining herself for not telling her the truth.

However, Miss Irvine did not give me a chance to ask anything.

"I'm so sorry that you'd have found out about that!" Miss Irvine blurted out, shocking Vicki a little, but the blond witch calmed herself and continued to speak.

"I'm sorry about that. I've been dreading this day for so long."

"I guess that's to be expected," Vicki sighed out of excitement and uncertainty, "but why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"It wasn't like I couldn't say anything about it; in fact, your mother was wanting you to know who were the bad witches." Miss Irvine stated, "However, the Witches' Council believed that concealing the bad witches to be the wiser of the two choices."

"That makes sense." Vicki rolled her eyes about the actions that she found annoying, despite that they were done in her best interest in mind.

"I don't blame you for becoming angry about the whole matter," Miss Irvine sighed with the regret that was evident in her voice, "but considering your strong connections through your family, a young witch that went rouge just because one of their relatives was a rouge would be disaterous to everyone, both magic-user and otherwise."

"I get it," Vicki was becoming very annoyed at that point, "but I just wish that they didn't think of me as a witchling."

"I know," Miss Irvine could not argue about that feeling, "but it was done with your interest and your future in mind."

"I KNOW!" Vicki was evidently angry at that point, however, Miss Irvine was not going to allow Vicki's temper to intervene with their converstion.

"Vicki, calm down, and we'll talk some more about the matter."

The younger witch was not feeling like calming down, but Miss Irvine was being stern about it. So, she inhaled and exhaled slowly, allowing herself to calm down enough to continue talking about her Aunt Eva.

"Good." Miss Irvine sighed out before she started to explain the situation to the young witch.

"Your aunt was not wholly of I've told you, but I didn't lie to you about her love for you. However, she and many members were not allowed to see you, especially when they've learned that you were a Chosen One. All of them were angry about the whole thing, but Miss Ernst was the most outraged about it, and she took it out on me."

"She hurt you?" Vicki asked, being concerned about the story that was being told to her.

"Not really." Miss Irvine replied with a weak grin, "However, I was abused and used to the point that I left her side and my training."

"Your training?" Vicki asked, confused about the statement, "But you're on the Witches' Council!"

"Well, that was because I've managed to reverse the spell that two of her victims were under."

"What spell?"

"Well," Miss Irvine looked nervous about the event, but she managed to voice it out, "it was Potion Eighty-Six."

"Potion Eighty-Six!?" Vicki was familiar with the potion, but she still asked, "You don't mean that stuff that turns people into mice!"

"I've had a hand in making it, so I had the understanding and power to reverse its spell and effects." Miss Irvine blushed as she confessed to being an assisant in the creation of the stuff.

"But that means that you were a child-hater too." Vicki sounded and felt betrayed by the white witch, who continued to speak in response.

"I'm not proud about it at all, but I've not only managed to free myself from the deformaities that came with the horrid path and managed to help those that needed it. Also, my good deeds allowed me to join the Witches' Council without losing my hair or my toes."

"And the scent of children?" Vicki asked, knowing that child-haters were hateful of children because children gave the smell of dog droppings.

"They smell as fresh as flowers to me!" A pleased and beaming Miss Irvine smiled before stating in a part-scowling to herself, "Why'd I ever think that was such a good idea to join those horrid hags?"

Vicki shrugged her shoulders, not knowing how to respond to the 'question,' but Miss Irvine did not give her much of a chance to do so.

"Really terrible business being a child-hater, but I'm also glad, because now I can help those that really needed the help in learning how to use your powers correctly. You know that very well, right, Vicki?"

"No arguements from me!" Vicki laughed a little, knowing that Miss Irvine was stern and caring teacher to the younger witches.

"Nor from me!" Miss Irvine giggled a little before regaining her composure and starting becoming serious again.

"While she was a child-hater, she did love you very much. When she couldn't see you, she brought a cat and named it Liebchen."

"Wow, she _was_ capable of feeling love." Vicki was shocked at hearing the extent of her child-hater aunt's love for her, "But that doesn't give her the right to abuse you like that."

"Thank you for that." Miss Irvine smiled at Vicki's words before she added, "However, she did meet her end in an ironic manner."

"How?" Vicki wanted to know.

"Let's say that she had a taste of her own medication." Miss Irvine stated, "I guess I was lucky to have been forbidden to come to that dinner party by your aunt."

"And why's that?"

"Well, before the dinner, she had used the potion on two boys as a demostration on how to rid England of all children. One of the boys happened to be the grandson of a witch hunter, who was espeically vengeful towards your aunt after what your aunt did to her childhood friend."

"Really?" The younger witch asked.

"Quite so." The older witch looked shameful at her own part in the killing so many children, "Well, Luke and Bruno, the boys that were turned into mice, managed to get the potion from Miss Ernst's room and take it to the kitchen to be dumped into the cress soup that the child-haters witches were eating for that evening."

"Wow!" Vicki gasped the thought of a room full of women turning into mice.

"I know, and the fact that the witches were in a resort at the time didn't help them escape being chopped up by the cooks." Miss Irvine shook in fear of what would have happened to her, if she had been allowed to attend the dinner party.

Vicki fell silent for a few moments before she spoke again, saying, "Why did she become a child-hater?"

"I don't know." Miss Irvine replied, "She never told me of anything of her life before becoming a child-hater."

"I guess that would make sense." Vicki shrugged her shoulders, "Most witches with a dark past don't usually talk about it."

"Tell me about it." Miss Irvine groaned a little as she felt annoyed with the matter of dark pasts.

"Although," Vicki spoke out thoughfully, "it would have been great if I had blue spit."

"Vicki!" The elder witch scowled at the younger witch, who retreated a little as she said, "Hey, I'm not crazy enough to become one of the worse kind of witches just because of one feature that I think is kinda cool!"

"I should hope so!" Huffed Miss Irvine, who was not feeling amused by the younger witch's sense of humor.

A few moments passed by, and then a giggle echoed into the air. Vicki was confused for a moment before she realized that it could have been the only other person in the room: Miss Irvine! Turning around, the darker skinned witch saw a smile across the older witch's face as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"I'd forgotten that your favorite color is blue." Miss Irvine laughed at herself at her ownr silliness.

"Gee, I wonder how that could have happened?" Vicki playfully snarked at her late aunt's assistant.

At that point, Miss Irvine shook her head as she chose not to respond to the sarcatism, since both she and Vicki needed the laugh.

"Miss Irvine?"

"Yes?"

"Was it very hard for you to tell me the truth about my Aunt Eva?"

The question was a little unexpected for the former child-hater, but she was able to answer it sincerely to the young witch.

"Only the bad parts about her."

Vicki wanted to know why and asked it of Miss Irvine, who was willing to answer it.

"Miss Ernst, your aunt, had many flaws about herself as anyone, although in her case she had far more, but she did love you. If she didn't have that love for you, she wouldn't have made you her heir of the small fortune that she had resevred for only you."

Vicki fell silent for a few moments, looking at the heart-shaped sapphire brooch that came with the letter from her aunt, when the items were given to her around the time she went to college. Vicki knew the author of that letter was someone that cared about her dearly, but the fact that she was a child-hater was truly a shock to her.

With a sigh, Vicki said, "Thanks for telling the truth, Miss Irvine."

"You're very welcome." Miss Irvine said with a kind smile towards the young witch.


	13. Chapter 13

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Thirteen

After the conversation, Miss Irvine had to leave the Emerald City to see that the Witches' Council would allow people to join the party at the palace. Soon after Miss Irvine left the Land of Oz, Vicki was able to return to the others.

"Are you all right?" Tech was the first to voice his concern about the young witch.

"I'm okay," Vicki replied to the question, "but it was pretty hard to deal with."

"Well," Tech stated to Vicki, "if you need a friendly ear, I'm all 'ears' for ya."

With a sweet smile on her face, Vicki replied to the corny statement, "Thanks, Tech."

Nearby, Lexi and Dorothy heared what had transpired and commented about it.

"I'm sure glad to see Vicki talkin' to Tech after that sudden discovery about her Aunt Eva." Dorothy sighed out of relief.

"Me too." Lexi smiled, "However, I'm also glad that Tech's trying to else Vicki's worries."

"Yeah," Dorothy giggled, "but with all that corn he's spreadin' around, he'd better avoid Billina for a while."

Lexi giggled with Dorothy upon hearing the statement, since she did get the joke. However, a distant noise caught her attention, and Dorothy did not fail to notice this from the female rabbit.

"What is it, Lexi?"

"I think Slam's scaring the Cowardly Lion in the kitchen."

"Then, we'd better get goin' to calm him down." The adopted princess stated as she and Lexi left for the kitchen.

* * *

As the day went on, the party was prepared with the guidance of the prinesses and the help of the advisors and friends. There were a few mishaps, which involved conflicting oppinions, but things were smoothed out in time for the party.

"I'm so glad that everything's come together tonight!" Princess Ozma exclaimed in her glee.

"Me too!" Dorothy smiled with the True Ruler of the Land of Oz.

Both Princesses of Oz were dressed in their outfits. Ozma was in a gown that was like her normal attire, but it was more elegant and formal. Dorothy was wearing an emerald-green and silver-white dress with gold accents on the hems of her dress.

"Let's go see Vicki and Tech!" Ozma suggested, "I know that they came into the ballroom earlier."

"Right!" Dorothy Gale nodded to her fellow princess, "I think I saw them goin' to the courtyard after most of the guests arrived."

Both Ozma and Dorothy went to the courtyard, while trying not to bump into anyone or knocking them to the ground. As they made their way to the courtyard, both girls said a chorus of 'Excuse mes' and 'Pardon mes,' and they tried to avoid making conversations with the other guests.

"Dorothy?" Alice Kingsleigh asked to the farmgirl, who said, "I'll talk to you as soon as I can, but I'm lookin' for someone right now."

"I am sorry, Alice." Ozma called at the British girl, "We'll talk later!"

After leaving the British girl, who was confused about the princesses' hasty greeting and farewell, Dorothy and Ozma went to the courtyard, but Tech and Vicki were not there.

"How strange." Princess Ozma stated in her mild confusion.

"Indeed." Dorothy looked at the area, where the young witch and her beau were supposed to be at, but she thought for a few moments and came up with an idea.

"I think I know where those two are at right now..."

Meanwhile, Vicki and Tech were in a speical garden that was designed and grown just for the two princesses of the Land of Oz, but Dorothy and Ozma allowed them to use it whenever they felt like they needed some 'alone time' together. The lovers did not really mind the offer, but they were a little nervous about going there during the party.

"Man!" Tech wiped the sweat from his brow, "I wasn't expecting to meet some of your old friends and family members."

"Same here." Vicki wiped her own forehead, "And again, I'm so sorry about Howl."

"Don't worry about it." Tech waved off the apology, "He's your cousin, after all."

"He still shouldn't have said that to you, Tech." Vicki blushed at the memory of Howl confronting Tech.

"Well, your past isn't the best record for judgement." Tech snickered, and that earned an elbow into the gut from Vicki.

"That's not funny!"

"Trust me," the tuxdeo-wearing coyote laughed out, "I think he's in the right to be worried about you. Although, I'd wish he'd been more disceet about the matter."

"That I'm in agreement with you about." Vicki sighed, relieved upon seeing that Tech had no hard feelings about Howl threatening him.

"I was also surprised about some of the other guests." Tech changed the subject of the conversation.

"Me too." The young witch laughed a little, "I wasn't expecting the Miser Brothers to be here."

Snow Miser and Heat Miser were borthers that did not get along very well with each other. Snow Miser was a frozen jokster, and Heat Miser was a serious melter of anything. Vicki had met them during an earlier mission, which involved finding Santa Claus's magical bag.

"At least, their mother's here to keep those two out of trouble." Vicki nervously laughed, knowing that Mother Nature was someone that no one, witch or human, should or would ever anger.

"That would be the little lady with the bird's nest on her hat, right?" Tech asked upon seeing the worried expression on Vicki's face earlier in the evening.

"That's right," the young witch nodded as she confirmed the coyote's guess, "and she can be scary, when she's angry."

"I believe that." Tech stated, thinking about the possibility of Mother Nature's fury.

"She's not angered too easily." Vicki stated with a laugh, "Honestly, the only things that could really upset her are the Miser Brothers."

Meanwhile, Dorothy and Ozma found the two lovers in the secret garden of the palace, and they were being very quiet and whispered when they did speak.

"Looks like they're doin' okay." Dorothy quietly stated to Omza, who replied, "Let's return to the party and check up on the rest of the guests."

"Like Howl?" Dorothy had noticed a familiar figure that was standing at another opening that led into the hidden garden.

"Why would he be here?" Omza asked her fellow princess, who answered, "Because Vicki is with Tech, and he doesn't like it one little bit."

"What should we do?" Asked Ozma, who recalled that Howl was a powerful wizard.

"Maybe I could be of some assistance." An unexpected voice hushly called out to the princesses, who turned around and saw Glinda.

At the other opening, Howl was looking at Vicki and Tech, who was too close to Vicki for the blond wizard's tastes, proving that he still saw Vicki as the cousin that he had met when she was very sick as a teenager.

"Who does that flea-bitten mutt think he is?" Howl was so upset about Tech's closeness to Vicki that he failed to realize that Glinda had managed to get behind him.

The Good Witch of the North managed to pull out her wand and waved it at Howl, who realized too late that he was in a magical bubble.

"Let me out!" Howl demanded of the Good Witch, but his yells were muffled to the point that no one could barely hear him.

Glinda, who did not hear Howl's shouting, whispered to him, "I'm sorry about this, Howl, but I know that you're only going to cause trouble for both Vicki and Tech and get you into even more trouble than you ready are in."

Using her wand to direct where the bubble went, Glinda guided the bubble with Howl in it away from the garden, where Vicki and Tech were trying to have a private moment.

Seeing that Howl was not going to cause any trouble for the two lovers, Dorothy and Ozma quietly returned to the party, leaving Vicki and Tech. However, Omza decided to use a little of her own magic on the secret garden, making the garden come to live in a romantic way.

With Ozma's magic, the garden's flowers opened up, allowing the magical light to flood out of them. In a nearby gazebo, there were many instruments that were left there for anyone to play them, and they were brought to life by Ozma's magic, playing a song.

"The Pas de Deux from _'The Nutcracker?'_ Vicki recalled, a little surprised about the sudden occurance of the music and the lights from the flowers.

"Wanna dance?" Tech offered a hand to Vicki, who began to blush furiously at the thought of dancing.

"I don't know if I can." The witch's face became bright red.

"You told me that you liked to dance, especially after Princess Genevieve and her sisters dance."

"Tech!" Vicki hissed sharply at the coyote, "You know that I'm embarrassed about that!"

"Then, why did you ask Howl to teach you how to dance?" Tech teased Vicki, whose face became even redder from the statements and her emotions of annoyance and embarrassment from the teasing from the canine.

"Please stop!"

"Only if you dance with me." Tech slyfully stated, and with a moment of annoyed silence, Vicki finally agreed, saying, "Fine!"

As Vicki took Tech's hand, the instruments left the gazebo and placed themselves at various in the garden, allowing the two dancers to hear the music better.

As Vicki and Tech started dancing, they took the tempo of their slow at first, and as they became more accustomed with each others' movements, their pace grew faster, until they were pacing and dancing to the beat of the music.

When they reached the correct pace to dance with the music, Vicki and Tech looked graceful, being a literalization of the term 'poetry in motion.' With Vicki's blue dress flowing with the dancers' movements and Tech's coat tails fanning in the wind, the moments of their dancing was a magical moment for the both of them.

However, the music came to its end, and so did Vicki's and Tech's dance. Even though the music ceased to play, the moment's magic lingered between the two dancers without a word. At that moment, they shared a passionate kiss, which lasted from a few moments.

However, at the end of the kiss, Tech and Vicki pulled from each for a moment before the witch said, "Why don't we sit down for a couple of minutes?"

"Good idea." Tech made no attempt at arguing with the young witch and followed her to a nearby bench, which made of pure emerald-green gold.

There the two of them sat there in pure silence, excluding the noises of the ball in the palace behind them and the noises of the night creatures both inside and outside of the Emerald City. Neither spoke a single word for a few minutes, still stunned about the kiss that they had shared.

"So," coughed Tech, breaking the silence between him and Vicki, "who taught you how to dance?"

"Howl." Vicki answered, feeling both gleeful from the dance and sad about it coming to an end.

"Really?" Tech was a surprised about the same man that had threatened him earlier at the party was also the same man that had taught Vicki how to dance.

"Do you want to know the funny part about that fact?" Vicki asked, developing an artful smirk, "He's a bit of a ladies' man, before he met Sophie."

"Really?" Tech raised an eyebrow at the statement before adding, "That's another piece of the puzzle."

"I know, but he also started a rumor that he ate the hearts of pretty girls just so he'd have his privacy."

"That sounds a little counterproductive." Tech pointed out with a laugh in his voice.

"That's what I've said, when I first heard of it from Sophie herself." The young witch smiled at the memory of hearing the story.

"Maybe we should go back to the party." The coyote suggested to his beloved, "The others might be wondering about where we've ran off to."

"Yeah..." Vicki did not really want to go back just yet, since she was having such a good time with Tech, but she knew that he was right.

Then, a large being flew down, causing a powerful gust of wind to blow through the gardens of the palace. Vicki and Tech were caught by the massive roar of wind and were thrown into the hedges.

"What was that?" Tech asked once he and Vicki were allowed to free themselves from the hedges.

"I don't know," Vicki admitted thoughtfully, "but I've got a feeling who it could be."

When, there was a loud crash that roared even louder than the wind coming from the palace. Concerned about the safety of everyone at the party, Tech and Vicki ran off to the others.

Vicki had a hard time running, because her shoes were designed for dancing, which was something that Princess Genevieve knew that Vicki truly enjoyed. Thankfully, Tech was able to help her with the issue and carried her in his arms.

Once they were close enough to the site of the crash, Tech put Vicki back on her feet, hoping to avoid any spells that Howl might try to cast onto the coyote out of being a protective cousin.

"Thanks for helping me."

"It's not a problem, Princess." Tech smiled in response, causing Vicki to blush again.

"FLIP!" Glinda's voice rang out in pure outrage, grabbing Tech's and Vicki's attention.

Hearing the name, the two lovers could only shake their heads at the situation, since Flip was a imfamous party crasher.

"Of all of the times to crash a party..." Vicki could not believe her cousin's antics at that time.

"So, I'm going to meet Flip at last." Tech tried to laugh, but Vicki's was beyond calming down at that point.

"And Flap." Vicki added in a moan.

"Flip's crow?" Tech asked in the hopes of remembering what Vicki had told him during their on-line chats.

"You got it." Vicki sighed out.

Without another word, Vicki and Tech returned to the ballroom, which was made messy by the unexpected arrival of Flip, the clownish mischief-maker, and Flap, a huge crow.

Flip, who was looking dishevled from the figurative and literal crash, was trying to explain himself to an angry Glinda, who was looking more messy than the clown as she yelled at the clown.

"You've gotta believe me!" Begged Flip, who was on his knees, "I only meant to fly over the palace, not through it!"

"Said the very same man that conviced Prince Nemo to unlock the door to the Nightmare Kingdom, which allowed the Nightmare King to kidnap King Morpheus!" Glinda was furious at the clown.

"Hey!" Flip was the one upset upon hearing the statement, "I've made up for that mistake a good while back!"

Glinda was surprise about what the clowish man had said, and she responded back to the statement.

"You're right about that, Flip," the Good Witch calmly admitted before she angrily pointed out, "but it doesn't excuse the mess that you've just made!"

"Aw! Come on, Glinda!" Flip begged for the forgivness of the Good Witch, who was not willing to grant it to him.

"Glinda," the voice of Princess Ozma cooed out, "maybe you can allow him forgivness this time, since this is a time of celebration."

The Good Witch of the North was still unwilling, but knowing that it was a time of peace, Glinda listened to Ozma, and she spoke to Flip once more.

"You lucked out this time, Flip, but I'm warning you: you'd better be on your best behavior, while at this party, and that means no mischief at all!"

"Then, how am I supposed to have any fun?" The clownish man asked, looking very sad about his fun being denied.

"That's your problem, Flip." The Good Witch sharply replied to the question, "You must be on your best behavior."

"Thanks a lot..." The clownish man moaned in annoyance.

At that point, Vicki and Tech approached Flip, who was moping where Glinda had left him and Flap.

"Hi, guys." Vicki waved at the two mischief-making duo, who took notice of the young witch.

"Vicki!" The giant crow cawed out in a happy tone, since she liked Vicki to the point of being fond of her, and she went the witch's side.

Flap started to nuzzle her beak on Vicki's face as Flip took notice of his younger cousin, and from the tone, Flip was distracted from Glinda's ban on his 'fun."

"Vicki! It's so good to see ya, kiddo!"

"It's good to see you too." Vicki smiled at her shorter cousin, who quickly took notice of Tech right away, and he spoke to the coyote.

"So, you're Vicki's on-line friend?"

"I am." Tech stated, feeling concerned about what _this_ cousin of Vicki had to say about him, espeically since he was interrogated by Howl, a very powerful wizard.

"Great to meet ya!" Flip quickly grabbed Tech's hand and shook it warmly as he talked, "I know that you're more of a indoor kinda guy, but I can tell that you're the kinda guy that'll help a family member in need..."

"Hold it right there, Flip!" Tech halted the clownish man's statement, "Vicki's warned me about you and your idea of fun, and that you're not exactly an upstanding citizen of Slumberland."

Flip looked annoyed, and he turned to Vicki to say, "Seriously? I'd thought that I was your favoite cousin!"

"I've said that you were one of my favorites." Vicki pointed out to her cousin, "However, you are prone of attracting trouble with your mischief, and your smoking habits have gotten you into some near-death situations."

"Hey!" Flip defended himself, "I'm not that bad!"

"Not like before." Vicki snickered a little, and Tech covered his amused grin at the sight before him.

"I've also cut back on the smoking!" Declared Flip, but that only caused Vicki and Tech to laugh even harder.

Soon, the party returned to normal, although Flap, who was a giant crow, had to go outside to enjoy the night air. That was a relief for those that were allergic to feathers.

"Vicki," Tech tapped her on the shoulder, "can I have a word with you alone?"

"Sure." The young witch nodded and followed the coyote to a quiet spot to talk.

Listening nearby, Howl decided to follow the two, hoping that Glinda would not find out and trap him in another magical bubble. Being as quiet as a mouse, the wizard kept an eye on the two lovers, while trying to make himself look like he was only wondering the crowd.

Once Tech and Vicki were at a private spot, Howl was careful about not letting himself being seen by his younger cousin or one of the powerful magic-users at the party. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped in another witch's spell.

"Vicki, can I ask you something that's been bugging me since I've make Flip." Howl heard the coyote inquire to the young witch.

"Fire away." Vicki replied, sounding curious and unknowingly annoying Howl with her apparent naiveness.

"I told me that you didn't like clowns at all, and yet, your cousin, Flip, looks an awful lot like one; what gives?"

Howl was stunned by the question, but he managed to hear the answer that Vicki gave to Tech.

"I won't lie about when I first met him; none of my family members had thought about telling me that he looked more like a clown, but I've guessed that they thought that I'd freak out if I'd known about his appearance."

"Really?" Tech raised an eyebrow at Vicki, who continued to explain the situation between her and Flip.

"Yep, and I did freak out when I saw him. However, I learned to get over the clownish look as I'd spent more time with him, and despite his love for 'having fun,' he's a loving member of the family and worries about me, like another family member."

Howl sighed a little as he heard Vicki's explaination and recalling when he had first met Vicki in person.

When Vicki was younger, she had became very ill, and it was Flip that told him about Vicki's sickness. Howl had feared the worst and went straight to her, only to find out that she was only sick from a cold. That caused the wizard to go to Slumberland, and Howl gave the mischief-maker a large piece of his mind and a nasty sneezing spell.

"Whacha doing?" The unmistakable voice of Flip whispered into Howl's ear, nearly causing him to leap out into the open.

"Flip!" Howl hissed through his teeth, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, cuz," snickered the clown-like man, "but I've gotta have some fun, since Glinda wants me to 'behave.'"

"Then, go bug the Misers!"

"No way!" Flip outright refused, "Not with their mother around!"

"Why, if I may ask?" Howl was curious about Flip's unwillingness of playing a prank on one of the Miser Brothers with Mother Nature so close by them.

"Let's just say that the last time I did a prank on those bozos with their mother being nearby, it took on lightning bolt to the tailfeathers to break me of that bad idea!"

"Was it in Slumberland?" Howl could not resist asking, wanting to know where Flip was taught such a painful lesson.

"Yes..." The glare from Flip was very expressive of his fury towards his distant cousin, who laughing so hard that he's exposed himself to Vicki and Tech.

Vicki was annoyed at first, but when she saw Howl's face twisted with laughter, the young witch's anger was replaced with a need to know what has Howl laughing so hard.

"What's going on?" Tech asked, being curious about Vicki's cousin laughing so hard that the wizard fall onto his bottom.

"Don't ask..." Begged Flip, looking embarrassed about what Howl had just heard and wanting no one else to hear about that incident.

Sadly for Flip, Howl managed to recover from his laughing fit and retold what he had heard from the clownish man, who was looking very humiliated.

By the end of the party, everyone had a great time with very little trouble after Flip's and Flap's crash landing into the palace. Many of Vicki's friends, although they were overjoyed about seeing her once again, had to return to their own worlds. Vicki was sad about their departures, but Tech and the Loonatics were allowed to stay for the night.


	14. Chapter 14

Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Witches

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Fourteen

A month after the party at the Emerald City in the Land of Oz, and Vicki returned to her world and to her friends, Mary and Lizbeth. Upon her return, she learned that she, Mary and Lizbeth managed to passed their exams, allowing them to enjoy their summer vacations.

Mary had to return to her uncle's estate, where she could work and tend her late aunt's special garden, which she had discovered when she first moved to the estate. Lizbeth went back to her native nation of Sweden to do some more of her 'hobbies,' however she did not tell the other two full details of her 'job' in order to protect them from whomever would try to harm them.

Vicki went to her parents' house at the first part of her vacation to spend some time with her mother, who was a witch before marrying Vicki's father, and Vicki's step-father, who was also the best friend of Vicki's biologtical father. Vicki had learned that her father had died at World War III, which was also the shortest of the World Wars by lasting under half a year, and her step-father loved the young witch as if she was his own daughter.

The second part of the vacation was spent with Tech and the Loonatics on the Planet Blanc, where she learned about the Royal Tweetums from a closer prepective. She also learned that Danger Duck was a frequent victim of the little ruler's antics, and she could not bring herself to hate Duck for stealing Tech's lab coat, but she was still sore about it.

During that time, Vicki spent most of the time either learning more about the planet that was in the center of the universe or talking and hanging out with the team. Whenever the Loonatics were on a mission, Vicki was on her personal laptop, talking with friends and family.

At one time, Vicki was talking to Dorothy Gale, who had moved to the Land of Oz since the last time the two girls had met.

 _"Learnin' this computer stuff is so hard!"_ Dorothy moaned as she held her head.

"You'll get the hang of it soon enough, Dorothy." Vicki was trying to ease the adopted prinecss from stressing about how to learn to use a computer.

Dorothy, who was from a world that had only one World War, was completely confused about the techology, which was decades ahead of the farmgirl's time.

 _"I hope so!"_ Dorothy exclaimed in a pained voice as she spoke on the computer screen, _"I've only been able to get the basics of this thing, and I think I'm still gettin' it wrong!"_

"You're still learning, so you'll do fine." Vicki gently responded to the panicked princess's self-doubt about using a computer.

 _"When you first told me about the computer, you made it sound like it was easy."_ Dorothy's voice sounded heavy with an accusation.

"Hey!" The witch defended herself, "My explaination may have sounded easy is because it is easy _for me,_ since I've spent most of my life using and working on them. So, if I've mislead you in my explaination, I'm sorry, but don't blame me because you're having a hard time understanding computers and how to use them!"

The Adopted Princess of the Land of Oz sighed, and a moment later, she responded the young witch's words.

 _"You're right; I'm just upset that I'm havin' a hard time with them."_

Vicki smiled before saying, "At least, you've got friends helping you out."

 _"That part I'm happy about."_ Dorothy managed to smile.

At that moment, Vicki and Dorothy heard the sound of one of the Loonatics' aircraft returning to the base.

" _Sounds like Tech and the others are back."_ Dorothy announced, and Vicki added, "And it sounds like Tech's going to be in the lab for a while.

 _"Won't Rev help him out?"_ The brunette princess asked, curious about Rev's and Tech's friendship.

"Of course!" Vicki replied with a smile, "Rev's the only one that can keep up with Tech's smarts."

 _"Really?"_

"Yeah, and Rev's been smart before he got super speed."

"Hey, Vicki!" Lexi's voice rang out from another room.

"I've gotta go, Dorothy." Vicki announced to the Adopted Princess of Oz, who said in response, _"I understand."_

"Oh! Before I forget, how's Theodora?"

 _"She's doing better since she and Oscar made up."_ Dorothy smiled at the young witch.

"That's good to hear."

"Vicki!" Shouted Lexi, sounding impatinet.

"Sorry, Dorothy!" Vicki stated with a blush, "I've gotta go!"

 _"I know."_ Dorothy's voice was dripping with a mild disappointment, _"I'll talk to you later, Vicki."_

"Talk to ya later, Dorothy!" Vicki smiled before she turned off the connection and went off to find Lexi, the lone female of the Loonatics and a good friend to her.

"There you are!" Lexi shouted, spooking the young witch, and that caused the female rabbit to laugh at the sight of the hopping witch.

"Don't scare me like that!" Vicki, needless to say, was not amused by being scared by the shout.

"I'm sorry, Vicki!"

After a few moments of trying to calm herself, the pink and black rabbit managed to say what she wanted to tell Vicki in the first place.

"Vicki, it's about Tech."

The young witch was shocked to hear this, but the expression of Lexi's half-covered face told Vicki that she was not happy about what she was telling her.

"What about Tech?" Vicki's voice was caked with worry for her beloved coyote.

"I can't explain it." Lexi looked away from the young witch, "You'll have to see it for youself."

"Please," begged Vicki, feeling like she was reliving her heartbreak, "take me to him."

"Okay." Lexi nodded her head.

Lexi led the way to Tech's whereabouts, and a worried Vicki followed the female rabbit.

Vicki's mind raced with many thoughts of Tech being sick or dying. There were even worse things that crossed through the young witch's mind.

"Lexi?" Vicki managed to ask, "What's wrong with Tech? Is he hurt?"

"I can't tell." Lexi stated, looking as worried as Vicki, "You'll have to see it for yourself."

This only caused the worry in Vicki's heart to fester into nearly pure fear for Tech's well-being as she was led to a room that was near the Loonatics' hangar.

"Just a heads-up." Lexi paused as her head touched the doorknob, "It's not what you're thinking."

"Just let me into the room!" The young witch nearly growled.

"Okay! Okay!" The pink and black rabbit opened the door, which revealed a darkened room.

Vicki rushed into the nearly lightless room, looking for her beloved Tech, but she needed some light to see him, so she went for the light switch, which she did find. Upon flipping the switch, she was greeted by a surprising sight.

"Surprise!" Tech, who was completely well, shouted with an artful smirk on his face and with his fellow Loonatics.

"What's going on?" Vicki managed to demand to know, despite that she was in a state of mild shock.

The young witch turned to Lexi and threw a dirty glare at the she-rabbit, who said in her own defense, "I was against the approach, even though it would be a good surprise."

Vicki returned her attention to Tech and the rest of the Loonatics, saying, "That's not cool, Tech; I'd thought you were dying or fatally injured!"

"I'm sorry, Princess." Tech looked regretful about the surprise and causing Vicki to worry about him, "That's the last time that I listen to Duck's ideas."

"Hey!" The water fowl hero backed from the rest of team, "I was only trying to help! No need to try to hang me!"

"Consider yourself a lucky duck, Duck!" Vicki marched at the orange and black bird, "If I was more willing to use my powers for personal gain, you'd be dead where you're standing at!"

"You wouldn't do that, right!?"

With a sigh that was heavy with annoyance, Vicki responded to that 'question' by saying, "Not like some members of my mom's family, I've got a lot of self-control with my magic."

"So," Tech interfected his thoughts into the short conversation, "you've got nothing to worry about, Duck."

Upon hearing that, Danger Duck breathed in relief, thankful that Vicki was not one that would try to harm anyone that would annoy her, at least. He retreated to a nearby chair and sat in it, and he said one more thing to the young witch.

"Happy anniversary, you guys."

Then, Duck quacked out of the room, leaving the others shaking their heads at the retreating mallard.

"That Duck..." Ace shook his head, knowing that the fowl was not willing to risk the wrath of the young witch.

"At least, he's learning." Lexi giggled and caused the others to laugh.

After a while, Tech and Vicki went to his lab. Rev came along, because the aircraft needed to be repaired, causing Vicki to be very proud of herself of her guess.

As Rev worked on the insepection, Tech and Vicki had a little talk about the surprise that he and the Loonatics had given her.

"Did you really think Duck's the best person to get a party idea from?" Vicki was still annoyed about what happened.

"I'm really sorry about that," Tech explained himself, "but at the time that I've thought about the party, Duck was the only one with me; it was his idea to put a fake emergency into the surprise."

"Well," Vicki's sigh was heavy with annoyance, "at least, it _was_ fake."

"Hee hee..." Tech laughed nervously, sensing that the young witch was unhappy about the idea, which was what he would phase it in a mild manner.

"Don't sweat it." Vicki detected the concern in Tech's mind, "I'm not one that uses her magic to get back at people."

The coyote looked at the young witch and become relieved when Vicki gave him a flirty wink. Then, he gave her a mild scowlding of his own.

"That's not nice to scare people like that, especially since one of them happens to be your boyfriend and a member of a team of superheroes."

"Sorry." Vicki 'apologized' for her actions to Tech and the Loonatics.

"I guess that it was a bad idea, so I'll forgive you this time." Tech smiled at the young witch, who smiled back at the coyote.

"If you two are done," Rev coughed out in an unusually slow speed, "I've got the details about the ship and the needed repairs."

"Right!" Tech blushed furiously with Vicki, "I'll work on it right away."

"That-not-that-I'm-worried-about!" Rev stated as he returned to his normally fast speed of speech.

"I think I better leave!" Vicki announced, "I don't want to get in your way."

As quickly as she could, Vicki exited the lab. However, Vicki's sudden departure caused some concern to form in Tech's mind.

"Go to her." Rev spoke in a slow pace of speech, "I can start up here."

With a grateful smile, Tech turned the red roadrunner and said, "Thanks, pal."

"Not a problem." Rev stated before the coyote ran off to Vicki, and after Tech left, he muttered, "At least, not as a problem as the one you're in with Vicki."

Tech chased Vicki down the hall, calling out to her as he caught up with the young witch.

Vicki became annoyed about it quickly, and she confronted him when he reached her.

"What is it?! You're starting to sound like my cousin, Howl!"

"Maybe that's a good thing, Vicki." Tech stated, although he was worried about being compared to a powerful wizard like Howl, "I'm just worried about you, Princess. I'm your boyfriend, after all."

"I'm just talking about this!" The witch started to walk off, but the genius of the Loonatics stopped her by grabbing her by the wrist.

"We really need to talk!"

"I don't think that there's nothing to talk about." Vicki was starting to become furious at the coyote.

The feeling was the same with Tech as he said, "We do have something to talk about!"

Both the witch and the genius glared at each other for a few moments with a powerful intensity in their eyes. The stand-off lasted for a few moments longer than it needed to be, and soon the both of the lovers cracked up in laughter.

"We must be the silliness pair in the whole of existance!" Vicki wiped away a tear from her eye as she giggled with Tech.

"No kidding!" Tech did the same as Vicki before saying, "I'm really about that thing with scaring you; I only meant it as a surprise."

"I know," Vicki admitted, "but I've never liked those kind of jokes."

"Forgive me?" The coyote asked his Sapphire Princess with a pleading look in his eyes.

Quickly, Vicki pecked a kiss on the coyote's face, which caused him to glow red, and answered, "You're forgiven as are your friends."

"Including Duck?"

"Including Duck." Vicki confirmed, "However, I don't want you getting any more ideas from him!"

"I... Um..." Tech rubbed the back of his head as he tried to speak, "I can't do that."

"Why not?" The young witch did not hearing something like that from her boyfriend.

"One thing," Tech explained to Vicki, "he's saved me before, and secondly, he's a member of the team, which means I can't exactly ignore him. Besides, he's got the universe's most annoying ring tone of his cell phone, and oddly enough, that's exactly how he saved me from Black Velvet's control."

"Seriously?" Vicki exclaimed, sounding very shocked at the news.

"I thought that I've told you." Tech scratched his head at his own confusion.

"Don't tell me that you're starting to get confused!" Vicki 'gasped' at Tech, who heard the sarcastism and responded in a deadpan voice, "Real cute, Princess."

Then, a noise that sounded like a bad remix of a car alarm and a duck quacking echoed through out the hall. Vicked was annoyed by the noise, but Tech covered his ears and growled out, "Duck..."

Then, the mallard appeared in the hallway, answered his phone and started talking to whomever called.

"This is Danger Duck speaking!" A heroic tone came out of the fowl's beak, however the tone died, when he learned who was on the other end of the conversation.

"Oh, it's you, Your Highness."

When Tech and Vicki heard this, they freed a collection of silent laughter as they tried to go to another room. As they retreated from Duck, they heard him trying to make up a story to the Royal Tweetums of why he could not make it to whatever the ruler of the planet wanted him to do.

Once they were in a different room, the both of them bursted out laughing at the sight that they had saw in the hall.

"Poor, poor Duck." Vicki wiped the mirth-pushed tears from her blue eyes, "I couldn't believe that Duck was bullied by such a tiny creature!"

"I know." Tech snickered to the point of being nearly unable to breath.

Then, the lovers took a few minutes to calm themselves before they spoke again, even though they still had a laugh or two coming out of their mouths.

"Like I was saying," Vicki tried to hold back her giggles, "that Duck is having nothing but trouble from the Royal Tweetums."

"I know," Tech laughed once more and managed to calm himself, "but it's mostly his own fault; he was the one that insulted the Royal Tweetus upon their first meeting."

"So, Duck had no one to blame but himself from the treatment that he gets from the tiny ruler." Vicki stated due to nearly forgetting about the subject herself.

"That's right." Tech confirmed before saying, "What was I thinking when I agreed to Duck's dumb idea?"

"I don't know." Vicki threw a stern glare at the coyote, who quickly said, "Don't worry; that's the last time I ask Duck about surprise parties."

"That's good to hear." The young witch smiled upon hearing her boyfriend's promising words to her.

Vicki and Tech embraced each other in a hug and started to kiss each other. However, it did not last very loud, stopping when a rapping echoed from the door and to the lovers' ears.

 _"Hey, guys!"_ Lexi's voice called out, causing the two lovers to sighed out of relief, _"If you two are going to makeout, do it in a bedroom, not in one of the workrooms!"_

Feeling silly and mostly embarassed, Vicki and Tech exited the room and found Lexi with her back on the opposite side of the hallway.

"Sorry about that, Lexi." Vicki was the first to sheepishly apologize to the female rabbit, and Tech followed the example by saying, "We got a little carried away."

"To be honest," Lexi responded to Tech's and Vicki's words, "I really don't care about you two making out in a random room, but they're certain members of the team that would love to rat you two out, if he'd caught you guys."

"Duck!" The couple growled in unison.

"That's right." Lexi nodded to the lovers, who started to walk off to Tech's room.

"Thanks for the heads-up!" Vicki waved the female rabbit, and Tech followed the example by saying, "Yeah, thanks a lot."

"Not a problem." Lexi waved at them before she went off to wherever she was going when she heard the make-out session.

Once Tech and Vicki were in the safety of the coyote's room, Tech and Vicki resumed their kissing, but that did not last long.

 _"Tech!"_

With a heavy sigh, Tech answered as he pulled himself from the witch, "What is it, Ace?"

 _"Emergency at the Palace!"_ Ace shouted through the door, _"We gotta go!"_

"Right away!" Tech sounded firm, but his face spoke of his desire of staying with Vicki, who saw this and spoke to him in a kind tone.

"It's okay, Tech." The young Chosen One smiled at the coyote, "I can wait."

Hearing this caused Tech to smile, and he responded, "I'll be back to finish what we've started."

"Of course." Vicki gave a peck onto his nose before Tech went to the door.

However, Tech reached the door, he turned towards Vicki and said, "If there's any trouble that comes here, I want you to go to the safety zone and stay there until I and the rest of the Loontics come back."

"Go on!" Vicki waved the coyote off, "I'll be fine; no need act like Howl right now."

"Okay." Tech sighed out, and then he said, "I love you."

"I love you too, Tech."

Then, Tech left the room, allowing her to followed him out of the door. As she did this, she had a thought form in her mind, and it came out of her mouth in a whisper.

"I wonder if I could use the Blue Flame in this situation."

When Vicki opened the door, she saw Tech leaning against the door with a stern look in his eyes as he said, "I almost forgot; you can't use any of your magic, unless it's asked for."

"What!?" The young witch exclaimed, and Tech answered the unasked question, "Miss Irvine told me that you're supposed to be on vacation, unless it's a bigger emergency than those of Planet Blanc."

"Drat!" Vicki playfully snapped her fingers, knowing that she was not allowed while on Planet Blanc, but she was willing to play by the rules.

Then, Tech kissed Vicki on the forehead and said, "I'll see you later."

"See ya." Vicki said before Tech ran off to help out his team.

After Tech vanished from veiw, Vicki went back to her room, where her belongings were at, and returned to her laptop. However, she noticed something on her keyboard: a note. She took it and opened it, reading the contents aloud.

"'Sorry about the prank; it was Duck's idea. Here's something that we think that you'd like to have, besides Tech. Signed, the rest of the Loonatics.'"

On the note, there was a blue rose hairpin taped to it, and Vicki was touched by this gesture of good will.

"Thanks, guys." Vicki said with mostly her heart.

With a smile, Vicki knew that her life with Tech and the Loonatics was going to be a good life. She knew that it was going to be hard, but with friends, like Alice, Dorothy, Lisbeth, Mary and even Toto, she was in good hands.

Then, she remembered someone very important in her life.

"Oh, no! I need to call Mom and Dad!"

As quickly as she could, Vicki started up the channels to communicate with her mother, unknowing of the unseen beings that were watching her.

"This happens every time..." Miss Irvine shook her head at the sight of Vicki's frantic attempts at calling her parents via computer, especially after she suddenly remembers to do so.

"At least," Zadavia pointed out, "she's not trying to ignore them."

"But this is becoming a bad habit." The ex-child hater palmed her face with her own hand.

Zadavia covered a giggle with her hand as she stated, "That's not good for a Chosen One."

"Not a all!" Groaned Miss Irvine.

Then, the boss of the Loonatics said, "At least, one thing's for sure about the future."

This caused Miss Irvine to look up at the blond employer of the superheroes and asked, "And that would be?"

"It's going to be very interesting for both the Loonatics and the Witches' Council."


End file.
